ABSTRACT
‘Antisthenes the Cynic, unable to answer [Zeno's arguments against motion], got up and walked, deeming a proof by action more potent than any logical confutation’ (Elias, 29 A 15). Zeno's paradoxical conclusions disagree outrageously with what we like to call ‘common sense’; and if common sense has no part to play in the serious dramas of science, in philosophy it often assumes a leading role. Moreover, in its antagonism to Elea, common sense has a powerful ally: perception. We perceive, everyday, the falsity of Eleatic metaphysics and Zenonian immobility; and our common sense is trustworthy just because it is securely backed by those quotidian perceptions.
