Mourelatos focuses on the scientific, specifically the astronomical, content of the second part of Parmenides' poem, commonly referred to as Doxa, in which Parmenides reflects the astronomical views of his predecessors, most notably those of the Milesians and the Pythagoreans, but also puts forward his own scientific discoveries and ideas. Parmenides' description of the sun's εργ' αίδηλα reveals his astronomical observations of the way the sun - in its unsurpassed brightness - makes all the other celestial bodies disappear. Therefore, the epithet αίδηλα takes on an active meaning to describe the various phenomena which happen within the course of a day or a year, i.e., how the brightness of the sun seemingly conceals from human sight the moon, or the stars, the constellations and the planets. Contemporary philosophers and scholars, like Karl Popper and recently D. W. Graham, have praised the accuracy and ingenuity of some of the Parmenidean observations, especially his remark that the moon owes its light and brightness to the sun. Parmenides' Doxa is not a phenomenology sensu stricto; Parmenides talks about δοκούντα and not about φαινόμενα, which reveals a more scientific approach. These δοκούντα (which Mourelatos derives from δέχομαι) refer to observations confirmed and accepted by extensive study and thought who are, therefore, related with Kant's 'phaenomena' or Erscheinungen. This interpretation reveals a deeper connection between the two parts of Parmenides' poem - Αλήθεια and Δόξα.
Academy of Athens
