How did Xenophanes Become an Eleatic Philosopher?

Mathilde Brémond (1, 2)

1 CRPA - Centre de recherches sur la pensée antique : CENTRE LEON ROBIN
2 PHIER - Laboratoire Philosophies et Rationalités

In this paper, I investigate how Xenophanes was ‘eleaticised’, i.e. attributed theses and arguments that belong to Parmenides and Melissus. I examine texts of Plato, Aristotle and Theophrastus in order to determine if they considered Xenophanes as a philosopher and a monist. I show that neither Plato nor Aristotle regarded him as a philosopher, but rather as a pantheist poet who claimed, in a vague way, that everything is one. But Theophrastus interpreted too literally Aristotle’s claims and was the first to make Xenophanes a proper monist philosopher.

Mots clés: Xenophanes; eleatism; reception; doxography

Domaines: Philosophie

Mathilde Brémond. How did Xenophanes Become an Eleatic Philosopher?. Elenchos Journal of Studies on Ancient Thought, 2020, 41 (1), pp.1 - 26. ⟨10.1515/elen-2020-0001⟩. ⟨hal-04493462⟩