ABSTRACT
Thusthegoddess'srevelationoftheWayofTruthmustcomefirst,andthe WayofDelusiveOpinionmustcomesecond,bothforlogicalandfor cosmological(physical)reasons:Parmenidescannotandmustnotkeepto theorderofdiscovery.Hecannotdisclosetheorderofdiscovery,themove fromthefalsityoftheoldtothetruthofthenewtheory:thereisnological pathfromtherefutationofanillusion,ofafalseview-suchasthewaxing andwaningoftheMoon-totherevelationofthetruth,ofatruetheory. Thereexistsnologicalbridgeleadingtothetruthfromtheempirical refutation.Indeed,ashemayhimselfhaveseen,thisissoineverydiscovery: thenewinsightisagift,arevelationfromthegods.(Itis,forthisveryreason, onlyahypothesis,asXenophanesboldlyadmittedinDKB34;butinthis admissionhewasuniqueamongthegreatdiscoverers.)
5Parmenides'proof Itisafrequentexperiencetofindgreatdiscoveriesinterpretedbytheir discovererstohaveafarwiderscopethantheyactuallyhave.MyhypothesisisthatParmenides'greatdiscoveryofthecauseofthephasesofthe Moonshockedandoverwhelmeditsinitiator,whoextendedittotheentire cosmos.Thereisnothingunlikelyinsuchastory.
