Victor Nuovo: Parmenides: A two-fold reality

Parmenides endeavored to achieve his goal by demonstrating through purely rational argument that the very idea of Nature is absurd.

Heraclitus was the first to make paradox a philosophical theme. 

Xenophanes was a wandering poet. The times of his birth and death are unknown, but he is said to have “flourished,” that is, been active, around the middle of the sixth century BCE.

Imagine how hard it would be, if not impossible, to think coherently if we lacked the number 1, which is the very idea of Unity.

Philosophy has been called “the mother of all knowledge.” However, since this was said by a philosopher (viz. Aristotle), there may be reason to doubt its truth.

It is commonplace to refer to the United States of America as a democracy. But those who speak this way, although they speak sincerely, state it incorrectly.

Robert Louis Stevenson, who was William Ernest Henley’s lifelong friend, fashioned the character of Long John Silver after him, particularly on “his maimed strength and masterfulness.”

In recent weeks I’ve found myself wondering if we’d ever be lucky enough to get another column by the inestimable Victor Nuovo.

When I was 70, I felt as though my life was beginning. At 80, I began to sense that there are limits. But now, at 91, I know that I am old. 

The theme of this essay occurred to me while reading a new history of the Second World War entitled “Blood and Ruins, The Last Imperial War.”

VICTOR NUOVO 13th in a series I concluded last week’s essay with a question: whether human history has any meaning. And I suggested that an answer might be found in the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971), in particular, in a book published in 1949 e … (read more)

I write in response to Kris Diehl’s letter in your April 21 issue. He raises a good point.

Shakespeare’s “Tragedy of Macbeth” is about a man who would be King; who, motivated by envy and ambition, achieved his life’s goal by committing murder, only to be defeated in the end.

I didn’t want to write this letter without time to more clearly spell out my feelings. But I also don’t want my displeasure to go un-noted, because I am sure other readers feel as I do. So forgive this brief note.

The theme of my last four essays has been Good and Evil, but so far I have failed to define these words.