From Xenophanes, a contemporary of Pythagoras and somewhat greater than Heraclitus and Parmenides , we know a lot about his biography and preserved many fragments of his works. Must have been born about 570 BC, the Ionian city of Colophon, and his death occurred almost a century later. It seems he spent part of this long life traveling and singing his compositions in verse (he was an accomplished poet and bard), in the manner of Socrates lyrical, but with the peculiarity that their chants were often critical to ways and beliefs Greek society, not so much a process of questions and answers, and recited in areas aristocratic, not in the dusty streets of the cities. Xenophanes
is within the confines, yet diffuse, that separate pre-Socratic philosophy of mere poetry. Some people give it a major intellectual role in the discussion of traditional theology, others see him as an ancestor, or founder of the Eleatic school (as Plato and Aristotle), while others deny any relevant philosophical and reduced to a sort of mere "sound poet." The reasons are various: they may disturb his writings in verse (more Parmenides also produced, and has never discussed his philosophical), but most of nuisance that almost all the texts come from elegies or poems written in different times and certainly under different moods, making it impossible to form a coherent intellectual system unit.
Such thinking is oriented, rather than the big cosmological questions about the world and its origin (characteristic feature of the school of Miletus), to the critical concepts and common beliefs of Greek society, as derived from the influence of the great poets ( Homer and Hesiod ). It also alleges some customs well established, for example, be granted such importance and value to the physical capabilities and success in sport, and not deemed to equal value to knowledge and intellectual prowess (and, similarly, it happens in our society today ...). Despite his aristocratic status, Xenophanes rejects the excessive luxury (" conceited, proud of its elegant styling / shed the fragrance of ointments made " fragment B3) and discussions on issues of war mythical or ancestral (" not take care of the struggle of the titans, giants / and centaurs, inventions of the people of the past / or of violent clashes, issues on which there is nothing of profit "fragment B1).
But the most scathing criticism of all Xenophanes holding the theological tradition. Now, what Xenophanes unfair judging are not the same religious beliefs, their foundations, but the human representations in excess of the gods, or their actions, have made human beings. First, the reprimand because the ancient poets had poured into certain behaviors that acts of God, for man, are considered brittle, as stealing, adultery and deceiving each other "(fragments B11 and B12). But if you are in our case, should not also be the gods, who ultimately are, or should be, a role model for us? How can we accept such behavior as appropriate or desirable for some but as for other harmful or deplorable? Second, warns Xenophanes awkwardly anthropomorphic vision that humans possess of divinity, and some fragments, and classics, which we quote below:
"fatal But imagine that the gods are born / and have dresses and the human voice as they "(fragment B14)," the Ethiopians say their gods are flat and black / and the Thracians have blue eyes and blond hair "(fragment B16), " if oxen and horses or lions had hands / and be able to paint them and make figures and men / the horses would draw pictures of gods like those of horses / and ox similar to the horse and make their bodies / as each has its own "(fragment B15)
Xenophanes also criticizes that, purely natural phenomena, we tend to see the divine blueprint, so in the case of arc iris, for example, " And that they call Iris is also be a tag / purple, scarlet and green to the eye (fragment B32)
The obvious moral of these criticisms is that the belief system of divinity based on the texts of Homer and Hesiod are incorrect and should be replaced. However, the alternative proposal of Xenophanes is at best insufficient, and there seems to be due to lack of information or articles on our part, but in reality, the poet of Colophon not developed a strong self-image of divinity.
Still, Xenophanes' conception of God is to prevail one (monotheism), which has as main attributes of omnipotence, omniscience and absolute unity (hence the parallel course with the Eleatic school) plus no be physically similar to humans: "(There) one god, the greatest among gods and men, not like mortals either in body or in thought " (fragment B23). It is sometimes generally defined as spherical, but in any case, as Xenophanes, still (it is inappropriate and unnecessary motion): " always remains in the same place, without moving at all, nor is it suited the changing one place to another, but, no job, all things move the thought from your mind "(fragments B26 and B25). Since the unit is higher, at a time is as real, therefore, only that it is a real (another Eleatic connection point). However, that unit could suggest that God and the world make up the unit, in which case it would not be much of a monotheism by a clear Xenophanes as pantheism, although this possibility is very questionable.
The man, meanwhile, is away from these divine powers: it is a weak and imperfect, and unable to achieve true knowledge. In fact, our knowledge is, at best, pure conjecture, " no man knew or will ever know the truth about the gods and few things say, for, even if by chance it turns out that telling the whole truth, however, not known. Above all [or men] opinion there is only "(fragment B34). We are not in a position to know the truth, as Xenophanes is carried away by a natural human ignorance, however, should not be an obstacle to try to get culture and knowledge. More than a radical skepticism, which the poet wants to convey is the idea that we value what we hold to be cautiously reality or truth, because we can never know if our ideas or opinions are categorically true or not. As pointed out by Kirk and Raven, " renewal of the traditional teaching on human limitations, this time in a partly philosophical context, contributed little more than we can trace, to moderate the tendency ultradogmática by nature of Greek philosophy in its early stages lively. " After dogmatism characteristic of the Milesians and their contemporary Pythagoras (Xenophanes was making fun of his doctrine of metempsychosis ...) Xenophanes tempered, and perhaps attenuated, excessive optimism in the revelation of the true reality in which previous philosophy had been installed. A suitable warning about the limitations of philosophical epistemology ...
