PHILOSOPHY AND PRAXIS

The perennial impression that has been passed down and also written in most texts in the western tradition of philosophy is that while Thales is the first philosopher, Parmenides remains the first metaphysician in history of western metaphysics. This impression has been so strong that it has blinded the expected critical disposition of many scholars. However, a cursory look and a further study of the materials and disposition of Homer and Hesiod states otherwise. It is based on this that this paper employing the critical-analytic model examined and interrogated the gamut of the works of Homer and Hesiod. The fruit of this research endeavour made it palpable that indeed the writing of Homer and Hesiod smacks of raw, evergreen, fundamental and foundational metaphysics. And it was even blatant that the metaphysical theories and positions of the acclaimed fathers of western philosophy and metaphysics stemmed from the submissions of the duo. With this, this paper then posited that Homer and Hesiod were basically the precursors of not just western metaphysics but philosophy as well.

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