1 68 SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN PHILOSOPHY 



is, that these writings of mine were meant to protect the 

 arguments of Parmenides against those who scoff at him 

 and show the many ridiculous and contradictory results 

 which they suppose to follow from the affirmation of the 

 one. My answer is an address to the partisans of the 

 many, whose attack I return with interest by retorting 

 upon them that their hypothesis of the being of the many 

 if carried out appears in a still more ridiculous light than 

 the hypothesis of the being of the one." 



Zeno's four arguments against motion were intended 

 to exhibit the contradictions that result from supposing 

 that there is such a thing as change, and thus to support 

 the Parmenidean doctrine that reality is unchanging. 1 

 Unfortunately, we only know his arguments through 

 Aristotle, 2 who stated them in order to refute them. 

 Those philosophers in the present day who have had their 

 doctrines stated by opponents will realise that a just or 

 adequate presentation of Zeno's position is hardly to be 

 expected from Aristotle ; but by some care in inter- 

 pretation it seems possible to reconstruct the so-called 

 " sophisms ' which have been " refuted ' by every tyro 

 from that day to this. 



Zeno's arguments would seem to be C ad hominem " ; 

 that is to say, they seem to assume premisses granted by 

 his opponents, and to show that, granting these premisses, 

 it is possible to deduce consequences which his opponents 

 must deny. In order to decide whether they are valid 

 arguments or " sophisms," it is necessary to guess at the 

 tacit premisses, and to decide who was the " homo " at 

 whom they were aimed. Some maintain that they were 



1 This interpretation is combated by Milhaud, Les philosophes-gdometres 

 de la Grece, p. 140 n., but his reasons do not seem to me convincing. All 

 the interpretations in what follows are open to question, but all have the 

 support of reputable authorities. 



2 Physics, vi. 9. 2396 (R.P. 136-139). 



