Xenophanes
570-475 B.C.
Greek Philosopher
Xenophanes was one of the first Greek philosophers to question the existence of multiple gods, and among the first to deny the possibility that any sort of knowledge could be either absolute or objective. In the second of these, he anticipated questions and philosophies that would arise again in future centuries and, in so doing, was influential in the philosophy of science.
Xenophanes was born in Colophon, Greece. He became a wandering poet in his mid-20s, and made his living in this manner until at least the age of 92. He mixed his poetry with philosophy and, in many of his recitations, he raised serious questions about the multiple deities of the Greek pantheon. This line of thought also led him to question what we know, how we know it, and whether anyone other than God could actually have objective and complete knowledge of anything. It also led him to adamantly deny that gods would have the human characteristics of those in Greek mythology.
Traditional Greek mythology described gods with supernatural powers who, nonetheless, acted very much like people. To Xenophanes, this seemed unlikely. Instead, he first questioned whether or not such powerful beings would indeed act in any recognizable manner. To him, it seemed more likely that such exceptionally powerful beings would act in a manner very unlike mortal and limited people.
Xenophanes then started speculating about whether or not it made sense for multiple gods to exist. He was able to dismiss most of the acts of the gods as natural phenomena, such as weather. Further thought led him to the conclusion that there could be only a single god, and that thisgod would more likely resemble the universe rather than a person. In his thinking, possibly influenced by the cosmology of Anaximander (610-547? B.C.), God was spherical, incorporeal (that is, without a physical body), and eternal.
Central to Xenophanes's cosmology was the concept of eternity. He felt that, for anything to exist now, it must have always existed. Or, put another way, if there was ever a time when nothing existed, then matter could not have been created from this nothingness. Because of that, he felt that the universe must be eternal. Xenophanes also felt that the universe must be infinite in extent and, on the larger scale, should also be homogeneous. Finally, he concluded that there could be only one god who, like the universe, must resemble it. His description of god was of a being who has no discrete sense organs but, instead, "sees all over, thinks all over, hears all over," who exists everywhere simultaneously, and who exists "without toil."
Xenophanes's contributions to the philosophy of science involved questioning whether it was possible to have complete or absolute knowledge of any aspect of the universe. His feelings were that the universe is so complex that it is impossible to completely understand it. He further suggested that, even if we did know the whole truth about anything, we would be unaware of this and would be unable to communicate this truth to anyone else. His contention was that only educated guessing was possible for humans. Or, in his words, "Here then let these Opinions stand; in resemblance to the reality."
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