Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 1Grote, George
Philosophy
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 1
Grote, George
Philosophy, Ancient; Plato; Socrates, 470 BC-399 BC
Though Xenophanes thus appears (like Pythagoras) mainly as a religious
dogmatist, yet theogony and cosmogony were so intimately connected in
the sixth century B.C., that he at the same time struck out a new
philosophical theory. His negation of theogony was tantamount to a
negation of cosmogony. In substituting Ens Unum--one God for many, he
set aside all distinct agencies in the universe, to recognise only one
agent, single, all-pervading, indivisible. He repudiated all genesis
of a new reality, all actual existence of parts, succession, change,
beginning, end, etc., in reference to the universe, as well as in
reference to God. "Wherever I turned my mind (he exclaimed) everything
resolved itself into One and the same: all things existing came back
always and everywhere into one similar and permanent nature."[52] The
fundamental tenet of Xenophanes was partly religious, partly
philosophical, Pantheism, or Pankosmism: looking upon the universe as
one real all-comprehensive Ens, which he would not call either finite
or infinite, either in motion or at rest.[53] Non-Ens he pronounced to
be an absurdity--an inadmissible and unmeaning phrase.
[Footnote 52: Timon, fragment of the Silli ap. Sext. Empiric. Hypot.
Pyrrh. i. 33, sect. 224.
[Greek: o)/ppê ga\r e)mo\n no/on ei)ru/saimi,
ei)s e(\n tau)to/ te pa=n a)nelu/eto, pa=n de o)\n ai)ei\
pa/ntê a)nelko/menon mi/an ei)s phu/sin i)/stath' o(moi/an].
[Greek: Ai)ei\] here appears to be more conveniently construed with
[Greek: i)/stath'] not (as Karsten construes it, p. 118) with [Greek:
o)/n].
It is fair to presume that these lines are a reproduction of the
sentiments of Xenophanes, if not a literal transcript of his words.]
[Footnote 53: Theophrastus ap. Simplikium in Aristotel. Physic. f. 6,
Karsten, p. 106; Arist. Met. A. 5, p. 986, b. 21: [Greek: Xenopha/nês
de\ prô=tos tou/tôn e(ni/sas, o( ga\r Parmeni/dês tou/ton le/getai
mathêtê/s,--eis to\n o(/lon ou)/ranon a)poble/psas to\ e(\n ei)=nai/
phêsi to\n theo/n.]]
[Side-note: Scepticism of Xenophanes--complaint of philosophy as
unsatisfactory.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account