Parmenides and Heraclitus

The first thing that struck me about Parmenides is the his writing style was similar to Hesiod's. He, like Hesiod, writes in verse and even follows a similar plot line. Only instead of the muses bestowing knowledge, it is a Goddess.

While the text says that he may have been a follow of Xenophanes, it seems more likely to me that he would have been a follow of Heraclitus. This mainly stems from the idea of trying to gain understanding and not just amass knowledge. It is clear to me that Parmenides is advocating for understanding as his character, Kouros,is told to by the Goddess to not jut learn arguments, but also assess and test them. I believe that this is similar to Heraclitus's attack on the Pythagorean tendency to amass knowledge without having real understanding of it.

Another reason I am tempted to say that Parmenides may have been a follower of Heraclitus is that his definition of "What-Is" seems to be a direct attack on Heraclitus concept of "logos". The logos is supposed to be the divine law of the cosmos and is represented by fire because it is always changing. Parmenides takes on a complete reversal of the stance and says that for something to be it must be unchanging, even in a qualitative sense.