Köhler highlights the common methodological strategy of all these paradoxes ( reductio ad absurdum) and tries to detect their aims and addressees. 109, 15-20 Busse = DK 29 A 15) and systematically lists the Zenonian arguments transmitted to us: both those against motion and those against plurality. After a cursory discussion of his main points of thought according to Diogenes Laërtius (IX 29, 50-55 Dorandi = DK 29 A 1), 4 Köhler tackles the question of the real number of his writings (cf. 14-42) represents a useful and complete introduction to Zeno’s life 3 and philosophy. B 1-3) c) finally, the authors who do not give any further information on Zeno and, in the majority of instances, just paraphrase sources quoted before (Syrianus, Asclepius, Alexander of Aphrodisias, and Elias).Ĭh. 8-13), Köhler classifies the sources on Zeno into three groups: a) the sources that are very likely based on a direct (total or partial) knowledge of Zeno, handing down first-hand information (Plato, Aristotle, Simplicius) b) the authors for whom it is impossible to ascertain whether they had a direct knowledge of Zeno or drew on secondary texts (on the one hand, Themistius, Proclus, and John Philoponus on the other, Eudemus of Rhodes, Alexander of Aphrodisias, and Porphyry, with the last three sources polemically referred by Simplicius within his account of frs. These preliminary operations are performed by Köhler on DK 29 B 1-3, handing down the ‘arguments against plurality’, and DK 29 B 5, devoted to the so-called ‘paradox against place’. The extant sources have to be handled with a great deal of care, taking into account the lack of the general context and the reasons for their later selection.
As is always the case with the pre-Socratic philosophers, the crucial problem with studying Zeno in depth is represented by the tradition of his fragments. Because of the high complexity of the issue, Köhler devotes the entire introductory chapter to methodological questions (pp.
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8), and a series of indices with the sources, the corresponding concordance to the Diels-Kranz collection, and the relevant names of persons and things (ch. 7 is a summary of the conclusions reached while the last two chapters contain a complete and detailed bibliography with reference editions and secondary literature (ch. The monograph consists of nine chapters, of which ch. 2 The new book by Gerhard Köhler on the figure of Zeno undoubtedly represents an important contribution to the understanding of the most controversial topics of his thought. 1 The authoritative warning of Bertrand Russell to take Zeno of Elea into serious consideration represents both concrete proof of the vitality of this pre-Socratic philosopher within contemporary thought, and an indication of the risk frequently run by his renowned paradoxes of being misunderstood or considered as sheer sophisms. One of the most notable victims of posterity’s lack of judgment is the Eleatic Zeno ». « In this capricious world, nothing is more capricious than posthumous fame.
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