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Xenophanes: The Morality Of The Universe

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Philosophy in the presocratic world flourished, contrary to popular belief. Although the presocratic philosophers covered a vast array of topics, the majority of them shared a common thread. The most fundamental yet complicated issue they pondered was the makeup of the universe. Through the study of presocratic thought, it can be proven that the world is, in philosophical terms, "one". Xenophanes held the belief that: "Reality is one and motion occurs among the many parts of one" (16). According to Xenophanes, individual bodies moving freely do not change reality due to the fact that reality is outside the realm of motion. The most accurate illustration of this hypothesis comes in the form of a puzzle, with interchangeable pieces. In order for nothingness to be nonexistent, as Parmenides explained, a body cannot move into an empty space or leave behind an empty space. Therefore, a puzzle piece cannot be taken away, only exchanged with another. Xenophanes' hypothesis states that, while the pieces of this puzzle switch places, the puzzle remains the same shape and does not move. In stark contrast, he also claims that nothing changes and all things stay the same (18). In order for the individual puzzle pieces to remain unchanged, we must conclude that reality is changing around them as they …show more content…

The concept of nothing being a part of something is contradictory. In technical terms, nothingness can be considered as part of reality, however, it cannot be considered as an additional part. To illustrate this logic in the form of an equation: one plus zero is equal to two. Counting only the number of integers, two would be the correct answer. However, the sum of the equation is only one. In summary, Parmenides adds further proof that reality is only one, even if he did not intend

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