The mobile and immobile god-world in Xenophanes

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Published: Nov 5, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/ethiki.28593
Keywords:
Xenophanes; Theology; Motion and Stillness; God-World; Pre-Socratic Philosophy; Pantheism; Critique of Anthropomorphism; Ionian Cosmology
Andreas Theodosiou
Abstract

This paper investigates the philosophical tension between the motion and stillness of the "god-world" in the thought of Xenophanes of Colophon. The author begins by examining Xenophanes' critique of traditional anthropomorphic religious beliefs and his subsequent constructive theological proposal. The core of the study addresses a seeming contradiction: the identification of a divine entity that is simultaneously mobile and immobile. Theodosiou argues that this contradiction is only apparent, resolved through the understanding of human cognitive limitations in grasping the divine. By distinguishing Xenophanes' position from both the Milesian focus on motion and the Parmenidean insistence on absolute stillness, the paper explores how Xenophanes' pantheistic "One God" remains essentially static in its divine essence while participating in the physical changes of the cosmos.

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