Xenophanes of colophon biography of mahatma gandhi

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Lesher, James In Zalta, Edward N. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Iliad 2, ; 2, ; 4, ; Od. Greatness in power would in turn explain the characterizations of the divine as perceptive and conscious in all its parts B24 , able to shake all things by the exercise of his thought B25 , and able to accomplish everything while remaining forever in the same place or condition B It is unclear, however, how far Xenophanes himself realized the interconnections among the different divine attributes or sought to exploit those connections for didactic purposes.

At least as they have come down to us, none of the remarks on the divine nature B23—26 contains any of the inferential particles gar, epei, oun, hoti , etc. Some later writers A Five fragments touch on traditional subjects of Greek sympotic verse—on proper conduct at symposia drinking parties , the measures of personal excellence, and the existence of various human foibles or failures.

Xenophanes of colophon biography of mahatma gandhi

Xenophanes appears to have been particularly interested in identifying and discouraging conduct that failed to pay due honor to the gods or posed a risk to the stability and well-being of the city or perhaps both. Apology 30b. We may reasonably conclude from several surviving fragments and a large number of testimonia that Xenophanes was well aware of the teachings of the Milesian philosopher-scientists Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes , and sought to improve on them.

A33 credits Xenophanes with a view of the sea as containing many mixtures, while B37 notes the presence of water in rocky caves, and A50 reports a view of the soul as earth and water. Xenophanes appears to have explored many of the same phenomena studied at an earlier date by the Milesians. Hippolytus A33 credits Xenophanes with a theory of alternating periods of world-wide flood and drought that was inspired, at least in part, by the discovery of fossilized remains of sea creatures at inland locations.

Whether or not Xenophanes himself traveled to Syracuse, Paros, and Malta where these remains were found, his use of this information as the basis for a broad explanation of phenomena is an implicit testimonial to the heuristic value of information gained through travel and observation. Many testimonia credit Xenophanes with an interest in meteorological and astronomical phenomena.

Not only are these comments of interest in their own right, they also present us what was arguably his single most important scientific contribution--his contention that clouds or cloud-like substances play a basic role in a great many natural phenomena. Having accounted for the formation of clouds in mechanistic terms through processes of vaporization and compression Xenophanes proceeds to make use of clouds to explain a large number of meteorological and astronomical phenomena.

The sort of fires that appear on ships--whom some call the Dioscuri [St. The sun consists of burning clouds…a mass of little fires, themselves constructed from the massing together of the moist exhalation A All things of this sort [comets, shooting stars, meteors] are either groups or movements of clouds A Flashes of lightning come about through the shining of the clouds because of the movement A As it happens, clouds are natural candidates for the explanans in a scientific account.

Since they are midway in form between a solid and gaseous state they are easily linked with solids, liquids, and gases of various kinds. And since they occupy a region midway between the surface of the earth and the upper regions of the heavens, they are well positioned to link the two basic substances of earth and water with many astronomical phenomena.

Having deprived the gods of human form and clothing and removed the divine to some permanent and distant location, Xenophanes proceeds to strip a wide range of natural phenomena of all vestiges of religious or spiritual significance. His de-mythologized account of natural phenomena is, in short, the logical complement to his thoroughly de-naturalized account of the divine nature.

Anaxagoras followed his lead on the nature of the rainbow cf. One factor that may have contributed to this chilly reception was the absence of any expression by Xenophanes of the kind of commitment to teleology that both Plato and Aristotle regarded as essential to a proper understanding of the cosmos. Divine knowledge is the only true knowledge, while human opinion is totally subjective and probable.

Xenophanes is aware that even his own views are only an assumption. Translation M. Giannis Stamatellos. Writings and Sources. Mythological Origins. Pherecydes of Syros. Die fragmente der Vorsokratiker, griechisch und deutsch. Berlin: Weidmann, , p. Lesher, James H. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Barnes, Jonathan. The Presocratic Philosophers.

Munich: Beck, Translation of part of this paper by M. Edited by Alexander P. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, , p. Guthrie, W. A History of Greek Philosophy. Cambridge, U. Kirk, Geoffrey S. Raven, and Malcolm Schofield, eds. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. January 9,