500 BC Parmenides
<p><b>Parmenides of Elea</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/pɑːrˈmɛnᵻdiːz əv ˈɛliə/</a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language">Greek</a>: Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; fl. late sixth or early fifth century BC) was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Socratic_philosophy" title="Pre-Socratic philosophy">pre-Socratic</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Greek</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher" title="Philosopher">philosopher</a> from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velia" title="Velia">Elea</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Graecia" title="Magna Graecia">Magna Graecia</a> (Greater Greece, included Southern Italy). </p>
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He was the founder of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleatic_school" class="mw-redirect" title="Eleatic school">Eleatic school</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>. </p>
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The single known work of Parmenides is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poem" class="mw-redirect" title="Poem">poem</a>, <i>On Nature</i>, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides describes two views of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality" title="Reality">reality</a>. In "the way of truth" (a part of the poem), he explains how reality (coined as "what-is") is one, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_%28mathematics%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Change (mathematics)">change</a> is impossible, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existence" title="Existence">existence</a> is timeless, uniform, necessary, and unchanging. In "the way of opinion," he explains the world of appearances, in which one's sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false and deceitful.</p>