Parmenides as Conceptual Analyst

It is argued that the properties that Parmenides attributes to Being and Unbeing are best interpreted as a conceptual analysis of what it is for something to be thinkable. Whatever possesses contradictory properties is not thinkable and anything that does not possess contradictory properties is thinkable. What is thinkable is eternal and unchanging but is not to be identified with what is actually experienced. The view that Parmenides is offering an ontological thesis is rejected as it seems to require acceptance of the Principle of Sufficient Reason. Connections are drawn between the conceptual interpretation of Parmenides and some of the ideas of David Lewis