Parmenides of Elea c. 450BC

Meetings, discourse, debates and exchange in the spirit of free and public enquiry

The Parmenideum is a private endeavor of several people in Salerno and the Cilento.

The Parmenideum is an exclusive philosophical retreat for the formal and informal engagement in philosophical and scientific discourse, in the context of good wine, cuisine and olives. We use the word exclusive here to convey not the counterfact that anyone is excluded, but that there is nothing like it.

Situated around the ancient Greek settlement of Elea in what was Magna Grecia, in the coastal region of the National Park of Cilento, the Parmenideum comprises a number of villas, farms, apartments and bio-lodges set in ancient olive greenery.

For those interested in the issues of philosophy, science and the pursuit of rational knowledge in general, the Parmenideum offers a welcoming meeting point organised around the discussion of deep and abiding philosophical questions, all enjoyed in the land of Parmenides himself. Visitors can choose from weekend and one or two week stays at the Parmenideum and are at liberty to engage in the discourse as much or as little as they wish.

However, everyone is cautioned before they come that besides listening, speaking, debating and contemplating beneath the olive trees they will probably also enjoy and indulge themselves, in moderation of course. To this end you will find here all that you would expect of a journey to Italy, but with the extra dimension of having something else to do other than be a tourist (which of course is not such a bad thing, especially in a country like Italy).

One of our central philosophical planks is, in fact, that inspiring thoughtful encounters with other like minded people are even better with good wine, cuisine and wonderful surroundings (Or is it the other way round?). Especially if they were also the surroundings of Parmenides and Zeno once upon a long time ago. Read some More

Please browse The Discourse and Description to see what there is in the way of intellectual fortification and then pass onto The Delights to see how the body may be compensated while the mind indulges itself. [1]

Read more about the concept behind the Parmenideum.
Read more about the Parmenideum

Notes

[1] The wisdom here is informed by another philosophical tenet, that of placing the cart firmly before the horse. Whereas in standard applications of philosophical and religious models for living one usually seeks to correct the aberrations (i.e. sins) of the flesh by post-aberration religious atonement or an afternoon reading Kant, in the new philosophy one compensates for the aberrations first. This works much better as a way of limiting the appetite, and is therefore faithful to the Socratic claim that the mind that knows the good will not fail to do that which is, indeed, good.