Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Parmenides by Plato
page 28 of 161 (17%)
not one partake or be part of one, for in that case it would be one; nor
can the not one be number, for that also involves one. And therefore, not
being other than the one or related to the one as a whole to parts or parts
to a whole, not one is the same as one. Wherefore the one is the same and
also not the same with the others and also with itself; and is therefore
like and unlike itself and the others, and just as different from the
others as they are from the one, neither more nor less. But if neither
more nor less, equally different; and therefore the one and the others have
the same relations. This may be illustrated by the case of names: when
you repeat the same name twice over, you mean the same thing; and when you
say that the other is other than the one, or the one other than the other,
this very word other (eteron), which is attributed to both, implies
sameness. One, then, as being other than others, and other as being other
than one, are alike in that they have the relation of otherness; and
likeness is similarity of relations. And everything as being other of
everything is also like everything. Again, same and other, like and
unlike, are opposites: and since in virtue of being other than the others
the one is like them, in virtue of being the same it must be unlike.
Again, one, as having the same relations, has no difference of relation,
and is therefore not unlike, and therefore like; or, as having different
relations, is different and unlike. Thus, one, as being the same and not
the same with itself and others--for both these reasons and for either of
them--is also like and unlike itself and the others. Again, how far can
one touch itself and the others? As existing in others, it touches the
others; and as existing in itself, touches only itself. But from another
point of view, that which touches another must be next in order of place;
one, therefore, must be next in order of place to itself, and would
therefore be two, and in two places. But one cannot be two, and therefore
cannot be in contact with itself. Nor again can one touch the other. Two
objects are required to make one contact; three objects make two contacts;
DigitalOcean Referral Badge