Xenocrates facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Xenocrates
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Xenocrates
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| Born | 396/5 BC |
| Died | 314/3 BC |
| Era | Ancient philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Platonism |
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Main interests
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Logic, Physics, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Mathematics, Ethics |
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Notable ideas
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Developed the philosophy of Plato |
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Influences
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Influenced
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Xenocrates (/zəˈnɒkrəˌtiːz/; Greek: Ξενοκράτης; born around 396/5 BC, died 314/3 BC) was an important Greek philosopher and mathematician from Chalcedon. He became the leader, or scholarch, of the famous Platonic Academy in Athens from 339/8 BC until his death. He followed the ideas of his teacher, Plato, and tried to explain them even more clearly, often using ideas from math.
Xenocrates believed there were three ways of understanding things: through our senses, through our mind, and through a mix of both, which he called opinion. He also thought that unity and duality were like gods that controlled the universe, and that the soul was like a "self-moving number." Xenocrates believed that God is everywhere, and there are also special spirits, called daemons, that are in between gods and humans. He thought that mathematical objects and Plato's Ideas were the same, which was different from Plato's own view. In ethics, he taught that being virtuous leads to happiness, but that good things in life can also help us achieve it.
Contents
Life of Xenocrates
Xenocrates was born in Chalcedon around 396/5 BC and passed away in 314/3 BC when he was about 82 years old. His father's name was Agathon.
When he was young, Xenocrates moved to Athens. He first studied with Aeschines Socraticus, but then became a student of Plato. He even traveled with Plato to Sicily in 361 BC. After Plato died, Xenocrates visited Hermias of Atarneus with Aristotle.
In 339/8 BC, Xenocrates became the head of the Platonic Academy, taking over from Speusippus. He won the position by a few votes against other philosophers. He also served Athens three times as a representative, once to King Philip II and twice to Antipater.
Xenocrates was not happy with the strong influence of Macedon in Athens at that time. After the death of Demosthenes around 322 BC, he was offered Athenian citizenship. This was a reward for helping to make peace with Antipater after Athens had rebelled. However, he turned it down. He said he didn't want to be a citizen under a government system he had tried to prevent. This new system had taken away voting rights from many poor Athenians.
Because he couldn't pay a tax for people living in Athens who weren't citizens, he was almost in trouble. Some say the orator Lycurgus helped him, or that Demetrius Phalereus bought his freedom. Xenocrates died in 314/3 BC after accidentally hitting his head when he tripped over a bronze pot at home.
After Xenocrates, Polemon became the leader of the Academy. Xenocrates had helped Polemon change his life from a wild one. Other famous students who attended Xenocrates's lectures included the statesman Phocion, the academic Crantor, Zeno of Citium (who started Stoicism), and Epicurus.
Xenocrates was not naturally quick or graceful, but he made up for it with hard work and determination. He was known for being kind, honest, unselfish, and very serious about doing what was right. People in Athens respected and trusted him because of his strong moral character.
He stuck closely to Plato's teachings and is seen as a key example of the "Old Academy." He wrote many books, covering almost all areas of philosophy taught at the Academy. However, he focused most on metaphysics (the study of reality) and ethics (the study of right and wrong). He is also said to have clearly divided philosophy into three main parts: Physics (the study of nature), Dialectic (the art of reasoning), and Ethics.
When Alexander the Great sent him 30 talents of gold, Xenocrates sent it back. He said that a king, not a philosopher, needed money.
Xenocrates's Writings
Xenocrates wrote many books on different subjects. He had a large work on Dialectic, which is about how we reason and argue. He also wrote separate books on Knowledge, On Divisions, and On Ideas.
In Physics, he wrote books about the nature of things. He also wrote about the Gods, On the Existent (what exists), On the One, and On the Soul. He even wrote about Memory and On the Emotions.
For Ethical topics, he wrote about Happiness and Virtue. He also wrote specific books about different virtues and about what we choose to do. He wrote four books about Royalty which he dedicated to Alexander the Great.
Besides these, he wrote about the State, the Power of Law, Geometry, Arithmetic, and Astrology. He even wrote some poetry and advice for living a good life.
Xenocrates's Philosophy
How We Know Things (Epistemology)
Xenocrates made the three main parts of philosophy (Physics, Dialectic, Ethics) even clearer than his predecessor, Speusippus. He also changed how he taught. Instead of exploring doubts like Plato, he presented his ideas as definite truths.
Xenocrates believed there were three levels of understanding, each for a different kind of reality:
- Knowledge (episteme): This is for things we can only understand with pure thought, like perfect forms, not things we see in the world.
- Sensation (aisthesis): This is for things we experience with our senses in the physical world.
- Opinion (doxa): This is for things that are both sensed and can be understood mathematically, like the heavens or stars. Xenocrates saw doxa as a higher kind of understanding than just sensation. He thought mathematics helped connect pure knowledge with what we sense.
He believed all three ways of understanding could lead to truth. He even linked these three levels of knowledge to the three Fates from Greek mythology: Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis.
Understanding Reality (Metaphysics)
Xenocrates believed that the world-soul was very important, much like Plato described in his dialogue Timaeus. He thought the universe had always existed and would never end.
He famously said that the soul is a "self-moving number." He also called unity and duality (oneness and twoness) "deities" or gods. He saw unity as the first male force, like a father or Zeus, ruling in heaven as an odd number and spirit. Duality was the female force, like the mother of the gods, and the soul of the universe. It ruled over the changing world below heaven.
Xenocrates thought that the divine power of the world-soul was present in different parts of the universe. It gave soul to the planets, Sun, and Moon, appearing in a purer form as the Olympic gods. Below the Moon, it appeared as daemonical powers (like Hera, Poseidon, Demeter) living in the elements. These daemons were seen as being between gods and humans.
He believed that the difference between good and evil began with these separate daemonical powers in nature. A good daemon would make people happy if it lived within them, while a bad one would ruin them. He thought that all levels of existence were filled with divine power, but this power became less strong as it reached the changeable, individual things.
Xenocrates also argued that the soul is not physical because it doesn't need to be fed like the body. He likely believed that the divine principle was unchanging and indivisible, while the material principle was divisible and changing. From the combination of these two, he thought numbers came into being. This is why he called the soul a "self-moving number," because it combines both permanence and motion, and gains awareness by balancing these opposites.
Aristotle noted that Xenocrates believed that "ideal numbers" (perfect numbers that represent ideas) were the same as "mathematical numbers" (the numbers we use every day). This was different from Plato, who saw them as separate.
Xenocrates also believed in "indivisible lines." He thought these were the basic elements of Plato's triangles, which God alone truly understood. He saw them as original, fundamental lines, and similarly spoke of original shapes and bodies. He believed that the basic principles of existence were not in physical, divisible things, but in the perfect, ideal forms.
Living a Good Life (Ethics)
Xenocrates added to Plato's teachings on ethics and tried to make them more practical for daily life. He divided things into three groups: good, bad, and things that are neither good nor bad. He said that good things are what we should seek for their own sake, because they have value in themselves. Bad things are the opposite.
Things that are neither good nor bad are things like health, beauty, fame, or good fortune. These things are not valuable on their own, but they gain value depending on whether they help us achieve good or bad outcomes. For example, health is good if it helps you live a virtuous life, but it could be used for bad purposes.
However, Xenocrates strongly believed that virtue alone has value in itself, and everything else's value depends on how it relates to virtue. He thought that true happiness comes from being virtuous. But he also recognized that to be completely happy, people need to enjoy the good things and circumstances that nature provides, though this does not include simple physical pleasures.
He said that perfect happiness is having personal virtue and the abilities that go with it. This includes not just moral actions, but also the conditions and opportunities that allow us to achieve good things. He also believed that wisdom, especially understanding basic truths, should be actively used in exploring, defining, and applying knowledge.
Xenocrates was very serious about moral excellence. He famously said that it's the same thing whether you just wish for someone else's property or actually take it. He also warned that children's ears should be protected from bad talk.
Mathematics
Xenocrates wrote books titled On Numbers and a Theory of Numbers, as well as books on geometry.
Plutarch wrote that Xenocrates once tried to figure out how many different syllables could be made from the letters of the alphabet. According to Plutarch, Xenocrates calculated the number to be 1,002,000,000,000. This might be the first time someone tried to solve a problem involving permutations (different ways to arrange things). Xenocrates also supported the idea of "indivisible lines" and sizes. He used this idea to argue against Zeno's paradoxes, which suggested that motion or change was impossible.
See also
In Spanish: Jenócrates para niños
- On Indivisible Lines
Images for kids
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Xenocrates, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg Chronicle
