# Parmenides — Dialogues character guide

> Parmenides in Dialogues by Plato.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The Eleatic Parmenides, the great Parmenides

**First appearance:** 0081-parmenides

## Snapshot

The venerable Eleatic philosopher whose remembered dialectic with a young Socrates haunts the later dialogues as both model and challenge.

## Who they are

Parmenides appears in memory as the noble elder who once argued with a youthful Socrates, his method of question and answer recalled with admiration and some unease. He represents a philosophical authority so formidable that even Socrates defers to it, and his shadow shapes the Stranger's approach to definition and division. His presence raises the stakes of every subsequent inquiry: can the old Eleatic method be surpassed, or only repeated?

## Relationships

### [Socrates](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/socrates)

_professional_

Parmenides is the elder philosopher who rigorously examines young Socrates' theory of Forms in the Parmenides.

### [Socrates](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/socrates)

_professional_

Parmenides is the elder philosopher who rigorously examines young Socrates' theory of Forms in the Parmenides.

### [Socrates](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/socrates)

_professional_

Parmenides is the elder philosopher who rigorously examines young Socrates' theory of Forms in the Parmenides.

## In the story

### [Preface to the First Edition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/preface-to-the-first-edition)

Referenced indirectly through the phrase 'I am not going to lay hands on my father Parmenides' (Sophist 241 D), showing respect for the philosopher.

### [On the Ideas of Plato](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/on-the-ideas-of-plato)

Appears in the Parmenides dialogue, where he critiques the theory of ideas.

### [Introduction and Analysis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/introduction-and-analysis)

Mentioned as a pre-Socratic philosopher whose Eleatic ideas influence Plato's thought.

### [§ II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/ii)

Implied as representing the Eleatic school, which saw only a principle of rest in nature.

### [§ III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/iii)

Referenced for his Eleatic philosophy of Being and negations, influencing Plato's conception of eternity.

### [§ VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/viii)

Mentioned as a pre-Socratic philosopher whose Eleatic philosophy influences and challenges Plato's ideas.

### [Parmenides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/parmenides)

The venerable Eleatic philosopher who critically examines Socrates' theory of Forms and leads the dialectical exercise.

### [Introduction and Analysis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/introduction-and-analysis)

The Eleatic philosopher who interrogates Socrates' theory of ideas and presents the hypothetical method regarding the One.

### [Parmenides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/parmenides)

Parmenides critiques Socrates' understanding of Forms and demonstrates the dialectical method by examining the hypothesis of the One.

### [Introduction and Analysis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/introduction-and-analysis)

Mentioned as the advocate of the doctrine of rest and being unmoved, whom Socrates reveres and hesitates to attack.

### [Theaetetus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/theaetetus)

Invoked by Socrates with reverence as a philosophical authority whose views on being and rest are contrasted with the current inquiry.

### [Introduction and Analysis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/introduction-and-analysis)

Referenced as the philosophical father figure whom the Eleatic Stranger fears to contradict.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/parmenides
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters