/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15267746]

Plato wrote that famous dialogue about Parmenides, but did he ever write about Heraclitus or Pythagoras or any of the other Pre-Socratics?

[Anonymous No.15268453]

Most of what we know, or at least the mythology we have about the presocratics in general is through testimonies and characterizations of them in extant work, as opposed to their own writings, very scant fragments. Obviously, Plato and Aristotle are major sources for these and certain traditions have obtained over the centuries and things get even more diluted over the centuries until it's purple monkey dishwasher. Please have a look at this particular reader which happens to be online and search the string "Plato" for context:

https://www.hrstud.unizg.hr/_download/repository/Curd,_A_Presocratics_Reader.pdf

[Anonymous No.15269396]

Parmenides is not exactly about Parmenides. Just arguments against the forms and a comical talk about being.
Plato created the forms to kinda unify Parmenides and Heraclitus: world of change + world of constants. Heraclitus is dealt with in an indirect manner: world of change means language is meaningless because there's nothing constant to talk about, and therefore you end up with Sophists, which are dealt with in his dialogues.

[Anonymous No.15269410]

>>15269396
Right but Parmenides is a character in Parmenides, is Heraclitus (or any of the other Pre-Socratics) characters in dialogues?

[Anonymous No.15269426]

>>15269410
Nah he isn't. Closest to him, as Plato sees it, are guys like Gorgias, Callicles, Thrasymachus, etc

Presocratics are dealt with in an elaborate manner in Aristotle I think but I haven't read yet.

[Anonymous No.15269458]

>>15269426
Yeah Aristotle, Proclus, and Diogenes Laërtius are the main sources afaik.
>>15268453
I actually own that book. Easier to find woth ctrl+f though. I didn't really consider Zeno is in Parmenides too, that counts.