Zeno of Elea, << ZEE noh of EE lee uh >> (490?-430 B.C.), was a Greek philosopher who lived in the Greek colony of Elea in southern Italy. He defended the doctrine of his teacher, the philosopher Parmenides, who believed that what exists is one, permanent, and unchanging (see Parmenides ). Zeno tried to prove that motion, change, and plurality (reality consisting of many substances) are impossible. He used a method of arguing called reductio ad absurdum. By this method, he would derive impossible conclusions from the opinions of his opponents.
Zeno is believed to have devised at least 40 arguments, but only 8 have survived. His four paradoxes concerning motion make up his most famous surviving arguments. In one of these paradoxes, Zeno argued that a runner can never reach the end of a race course. He stated that the runner first completes half of the course, then half of the remaining distance, and so on infinitely without ever reaching the end. Zeno’s apparently simple arguments raise profound issues about time, space, and infinity. These issues continue to interest philosophers and scientists.
