  The commonly found claim that Zeno aimed to defend the paradoxical  monism of his Eleatic mentor, Parmenides, is based upon the  speculations by the young Socrates of Plato’s Parmenides on  Zeno’s ulterior motives. After the portion of the exchange between  Socrates and Zeno quoted above (sect. 1), Socrates turns to  Parmenides and says: