PHIL30301 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Italian Philosophy, Deductive Reasoning, Xenophanes
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Secret oaths, both men and women allowed, strict routines. All life is akin, so after death our souls can inhabit both animals and people. This belief in reincarnation led them to vegetarianism. Wanted to live as purely as possible so that they would not reincarnate. Sought to uncover the orderliness of the world so he could contemplate them. Found math in music, liked the number ten (1+2+3+4). From this he concluded that the universe is composed of numerical proportions. Has dual ultimate principles, limit and unlimited (dualists). Focused on the structure of the universe more than the matter. Original unit of the universe is a fire of great brilliance, around which the earth revolved. Harmony happens when opposites in nature are balanced (limit and unlimited). Wrote his philosophy in the form of a poem. Only one thing can possibly exist and it is uncreated, unchangeable, indestructible, and immovable.