Xenophanes (English spelling)

Japanese: クセノファネス（英語表記）Xenophanēs

A Greek philosopher of the 6th century BCE. Born in Colophon, Ionia, he moved to Elea after his hometown was ravaged by the Persian army. He was a contemporary of Pythagoras and the founder of the Eleatic school. He is said to have been the first to state the proposition that "all is one." Having acquired a natural science education in Miletus, he rejected the idea of human gods, saying that "the one God is the greatest of gods and men, and bears no resemblance in form or thought to mortal things," and he sharply criticized Homer and Hesiod. The "one and all" of the Eleatics still had a theological and religious character for him, but his rejection of predicates that finite God and his acceptance of unity and immutability as His essence can also be said to be a manifestation of his philosophical principles. His main work is On Nature.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

前6世紀のギリシアの哲学者。イオニアのコロフォンに生れ，故郷がペルシア軍に荒されてのちエレアに移住。ピタゴラスと同時代人でエレア派の創始者。「すべては一つである」という命題を初めて述べたといわれている。またミレトスの自然学的教養を身につけた彼は「唯一の神は神々や人間のなかで最も大きく，姿も考えも死すべきものとはいささかも似ていない」として人間的な神々を否定，ホメロスやヘシオドスを痛烈に非難した。エレア派のいう「一にして全」はいまだ彼にあっては神学的宗教的性格を有していたが，神を有限化する述語を拒否し，単一性と不変性をその本質としたことは同時に彼の哲学上の原理の表明であったといえよう。主著は『自然について』。

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