Melissus of samos biography of william

Melissus of samos biography of william...

Melissus of samos biography of william shakespeare

Life and Work

Melissus of Samos (fl. 5th c. BC), after Parmenides and Zeno, is the third important thinker of the Eleatic movement. Except of a philosopher, he was a naval commander, famous for his victories especially against the Athenians in 441 BC.

He wrote one philosophical book in prose from which only ten fragment survive, thanks to Simplicius

Theory of Being

Melissus was a follower of Parmenides’ thought but not in all its details.

On the one hand, Melissus agrees with Parmenides’ main arguments on the indestructibility, immobility, indivisibility, oneness, completeness, changelessness and perfection of Being. On the other, he adopts a different viewpoint on the Parmenidean timelessness and finitude of Being.

Biography of william shakespeare

Melissus understood non-being in terms of spatial emptiness. Since non-being is impossible as an enclosing limit, then Being is limitless. Thus, while Parmenides’ Being is timeless in finitude, Melissus’ Being is everlasting in infinitum.