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The beginning of Melissus' On Nature or On What-Is: a reconstruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2015

Benjamin Harriman*
Affiliation:
Magdalene College, University of Cambridge*

Abstract:

The philosophical treatise of Melissus of Samos is often maintained to have a strictly deductive argumentative structure. This article attempts to confirm this thesis by establishing that such a structure is instituted beginning from its title and introductory sphragis. Extant paraphrases of Melissus’ treatise are examined and are argued (in line with some previous treatments) to provide a highly illuminating indication that the work began from the hypothesis that something is. Next, an account of how the first verbatim fragment (DK30B1) takes up this prefatory material is given along with a reconstructed text and translation of the title, preface and argument for the sempiternity of what-is.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2015 

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