HowPresocralics Understandthe Human Cognitive Powers

像荷马和赫西奥德这样的神话讲述者认为人类的认知能力不如神，并认为世界的结构是完全不可知的，对人类来说是不可理解的。色诺芬尼也认为神与凡人是对立的，但他从未接受过完全的怀疑主义。正是关于“非明显”领域的事物，他认识到人类理解的有限性。想要解释直接经验之外的事物的人，由于与没有个体感觉器官的神性相比，他们的身体是有限的，所以他们只能推测。他们所做的推测只不过是δokoζ（即意见，而不是纯粹的猜测）。但是他们可以使δokoζ尽可能地接近于真实值通过从直接观察中获得的信息的积累。色诺芬尼表达了一种信仰，相信人类的进步在科学研究中是没有界限的，这是我们在神话讲述者的观点中永远找不到的。巴门尼德认为凡人的意见（δoξα）绝对是骗人的。为什么巴门尼德在他的诗中明确地教导这些观点？他不给宇宙学留点余地吗？首先，我们必须注意到δoξα不能仅仅用表象或现象来表示。它是一种明确表述的判断或信念，是对真理的保证。我们不能从这种感官知觉的固有错误中寻找它不可靠的根源。在这里看到理性与感官的对立是不合时宜的。巴门尼德认为人类信仰缺乏对存在本质的理解。根据《真理之道》所阐述的存在的必要性质，研究和消解其中所描述的欺骗性的宇宙论，可以根据对存在本质的真正洞见，重新建立正确的宇宙论。

Such myth-tellers as Homer and Hesiod thought of human cognitive powers as inferior to those of gods and represented the structure of the world as utterly unknowable and unintelligible for men. Xenophanes, who also assumed the opposition between the divine and the mortal, never embraced a total scepticism. It is concerning the things in the 'non-evident' realm that he recognized the finiteness of human understanding. Men, who want to explain the matters beyond the direct experience, cannot but conjecture because of their very physical finitude in contrast with the divine which has no individual sense organs. The conjecture they make is nothing more or less than δokoζ (I.e. opinion, not sheer guesswork). But they can make this δokoζ as approximate to the truth as possible with the accumulation of information gained from immediate observation. Xenophanes expresses a faith in human progress with no bounds in scientific research, which we could never find in the views of the myth-tellers.Parmenides took the opinions (δoξα) of mortals as absolutely deceptive. Why does Parmenides expressly teach such opinions in his poem? Does he not leave any room for cosmology? First of all, we have to note that δoξα Cannot be identified with mere appearance or phenomena. It is a clearly formulated judgement or belief, assurance of truth. We must not seek for the source of its unreliability in such an inherent error of sense perception. It is an anachronism to see the opposition between reason and senses here. Parmenides found fault with mortal belief for its lack of understanding of the nature of Being. In the light of the necessary qualities of Being expounded in the Way of Truth, to study and dissolve the deceitful cosmology depicted there leads to the re-establishment of correct cosmology based on the true insight into the nature of Being.