Teacher of Zeno of Elea, the colleague of Parmenides.
He aimed his critique at the polytheistic religious views of earlier Greek poets and of his own contemporaries: "Homer and Hesiod,".
He is said to have flourished during the 60th Olympiad (540-537 BC).[9] He was mentioned in the writings of Heraclitus and Epicharmus[10] and had himself mentioned Thales, Epimenides, and Pythagoras.
Xenophanes is quoted, memorably, in Clement of Alexandria,[19] arguing against the conception of gods as fundamentally anthropomorphic:
But if cattle and horses and lions had hands
or could paint with their hands and create works such as men do,
horses like horses and cattle like cattle
also would depict the gods' shapes and make their bodies
of such a sort as the form they themselves have.
...
Ethiopians say that their gods are snub–nosed [σιμούς] and black
Thracians that they are pale and red-haired.[20]
Other passages quoted by Clement of Alexandria that argue against the traditional Greek conception of gods include:
"One god, greatest among gods and humans,
like mortals neither in form nor in thought."[21]
"But mortals think that the gods are born
and have the mortals' own clothes and voice and form."[21]
Regarding Xenophanes' theology five key concepts about God can be formed. God is: beyond human morality, does not resemble human form, cannot die or be born (God is divine thus eternal), no divine hierarchy exists, and God does not intervene in human affairs
Xenophanes espoused a belief that "God is one, supreme among gods and men, and not like mortals in body or in mind."[24] He maintained there was one greatest God. God is one eternal being, spherical in form, comprehending all things within himself, is intelligent, and moves all things, but bears no resemblance to human nature either in body or mind. He is considered by some to be a precursor to Parmenides and Spinoza. Because of his development of the concept of a "one god greatest among gods and men" that is abstract, universal, unchanging, immobile and always present, Xenophanes is often seen as one of the first monotheists, in the Western philosophy of religion,
Xenophanes is credited with being one of the first philosophers to distinguish between true belief and knowledge, which he further developed into the prospect that you can know something but not really know it.
His epistemology, which is still influential today, held that there actually exists a truth of reality, but that humans as mortals are unable to know it.
He aimed his critique at the polytheistic religious views of earlier Greek poets and of his own contemporaries: "Homer and Hesiod,".
He is said to have flourished during the 60th Olympiad (540-537 BC).[9] He was mentioned in the writings of Heraclitus and Epicharmus[10] and had himself mentioned Thales, Epimenides, and Pythagoras.
Xenophanes is quoted, memorably, in Clement of Alexandria,[19] arguing against the conception of gods as fundamentally anthropomorphic:
But if cattle and horses and lions had hands
or could paint with their hands and create works such as men do,
horses like horses and cattle like cattle
also would depict the gods' shapes and make their bodies
of such a sort as the form they themselves have.
...
Ethiopians say that their gods are snub–nosed [σιμούς] and black
Thracians that they are pale and red-haired.[20]
Other passages quoted by Clement of Alexandria that argue against the traditional Greek conception of gods include:
"One god, greatest among gods and humans,
like mortals neither in form nor in thought."[21]
"But mortals think that the gods are born
and have the mortals' own clothes and voice and form."[21]
Regarding Xenophanes' theology five key concepts about God can be formed. God is: beyond human morality, does not resemble human form, cannot die or be born (God is divine thus eternal), no divine hierarchy exists, and God does not intervene in human affairs
Xenophanes espoused a belief that "God is one, supreme among gods and men, and not like mortals in body or in mind."[24] He maintained there was one greatest God. God is one eternal being, spherical in form, comprehending all things within himself, is intelligent, and moves all things, but bears no resemblance to human nature either in body or mind. He is considered by some to be a precursor to Parmenides and Spinoza. Because of his development of the concept of a "one god greatest among gods and men" that is abstract, universal, unchanging, immobile and always present, Xenophanes is often seen as one of the first monotheists, in the Western philosophy of religion,
Xenophanes is credited with being one of the first philosophers to distinguish between true belief and knowledge, which he further developed into the prospect that you can know something but not really know it.
His epistemology, which is still influential today, held that there actually exists a truth of reality, but that humans as mortals are unable to know it.