Xenophanes

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Xenophanes

Xenophanes , c.570-c.480 BC, pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of Colophon. Although thought by some to be the founder of the Eleatic school , his thought is only superficially similar to that of Parmenides . Xenophanes opposed the anthropomorphic representation of the gods common to the Greeks since Homer and Hesiod. Instead he asserted there is only one god, eternal and immutable but intimately connected with the world. Although interpretations of his thought vary, it was probably a form of pantheism. He was a singer of elegies, a poet, and a satirist who exhorted his hearers to virtue.

Bibliography: See G. S. Kirk and J. E. Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers (1957).

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Xenophanes of Colophon

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Xenophanes of Colophon (c.560–478 bc) Travelling Greek poet and philosopher. Xenophanes proposed a version of pantheism, holding that all living creatures have a common natural origin. His work survives only in fragmentary form.

http://stanford.edu/entries/xenophanes

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