Palmer, John A.: Plato's Reception of Parmenides

An account of Plato's uses and understanding of his Presocratic predecessor, Parmenides. Palmer gives fresh readings of Parmenides' poem in the light of the Platonic reception, and discusses Plato's view of Parmenides' relation to such key figures as Xenophanes, Zeno, and Gorgias.This is a learned book and there is much that is both new and valuable. The discussion of the sight-lovers of Republic 5 ... is very good, and the accounts of Gorgia's influence on the arguments of the Parmenides and the Sophist are particularly insightful. Palmer has read widely and critically, and he engages with much modern and contemporary scholarship.