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What Does Xenophanes Mean To Be A Skeptic?

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Though we have only select accounts of Xenophanes and very few pieces of original texts of his, one can clearly see his philosophical ideology showing through his poetry. Whether one believes him to be an actual philosopher Xenophanes works include philosophical points and questions. Do these works show him to be a skeptic?
A skeptic by general terms seems to be a person who challenges commonly accepted ideas or conceptions. Using this as our definition and analyzing Xenophanes’s work the quotes “Xenophanes used to say those who say that the gods are born are just as impious as those who say that they die, since either way it follows that there is a time when the gods do not exist.” (21A12) and “If horses had hands…or if they could draw with their hands and produce works as men do, then horses would draw figures of gods like horses…” (B15). These quotes are interesting because they show he clearly was challenging the idea of gods that his culture had. Being that they believed in humanoid gods that had been born, saying that it is very possible that this is untrue and makes no sense is a bold statement. …show more content…

This looks to be strongly related to Xenophanes’s statement:
“…and of course the clear and certain truth no man has seen
Nor will there be anyone who knows about the gods and what I say about things;
For even if, in the best case, someone happened to speak what has been brought to

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