On Nature
E550835
On Nature is a lost philosophical poem by Xenophanes of Colophon that critiqued traditional Greek religion and advanced early ideas about a single, rational god and the nature of reality.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| On Nature canonical | 1 |
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
didactic poem
ⓘ
lost philosophical poem ⓘ |
| addresses |
limits of human knowledge
ⓘ
nature of the divine ⓘ relationship between humans and gods ⓘ |
| asserts |
god is unlike mortals in body and mind
ⓘ
god remains always in the same place, not moving ⓘ god sees, thinks, and hears as a whole ⓘ |
| associatedPlace | Colophon NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedWithPhilosopher | Xenophanes NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| author | Xenophanes of Colophon NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| criticizesPractice |
Hesiodic depiction of gods
ⓘ
Homeric depiction of gods ⓘ |
| critiques |
anthropomorphic conceptions of the gods
ⓘ
traditional Greek religion ⓘ |
| culturalContext | Archaic Greece NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| epistemicClaim | even if someone happened to say the complete truth, they would not know it ⓘ |
| genre | philosophical poetry ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod |
5th century BCE
ⓘ
6th century BCE ⓘ |
| influenceOn |
Parmenides
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
ancient Greek theological thought ⓘ later Eleatic philosophy ⓘ |
| knownFrom |
fragmentary verses preserved by later authors
ⓘ
later quotations and testimonia ⓘ |
| languageFeature | hexameter verse (probable) ⓘ |
| literaryForm | poem ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | Ancient Greek ⓘ |
| philosophicalPosition |
critique of anthropomorphism in religion
ⓘ
monotheistic tendency ⓘ rationalist view of divinity ⓘ skepticism about human knowledge of the divine ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | Pre-Socratic philosophy ⓘ |
| proposesConcept |
divine rationality
ⓘ
single rational god ⓘ unity of god ⓘ |
| scholarlyReconstruction | often divided into theological and epistemological sections ⓘ |
| survivalStatus | fragmentary ⓘ |
| topic |
cosmology
ⓘ
epistemology ⓘ nature of reality ⓘ theology ⓘ |
| transmissionType | indirect tradition ⓘ |
| workStatus | lost ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.