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Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 570- c 480 B.C.) A contemporary of Pythagoras who may have been a student of Anaximander. Usually associated with the Milesian school, his studies carried him into an examination of the phenomena of nature. He held that all living creatures had an origin, that plants and animals had natural origins. -- E.H.

To Xenophanes is due the saying: "The gods of the Ethiopians are dark-skinned and snub-nosed, the gods of the Thracians are fair and blue-eyed; if oxen could paint, their gods would be oxen."

Xirau Palau, Joaquin: Born in Figueras, Spain, 1805. At present, in Mexico. Xirau specialized in philosophy, literature and law, obtaining his Ph.D. from the Central University of Madrid in 1918. Studied and worked under Ortega y Gasset, Serra Hunter, Cossio, and Morente. Main Works:

Las Condiciones de la Verdad Eterna en Leibniz, 1921;

Rousseau y las Ideas Politicas Modernas, 1923;

El Sentido de la Verdad, 1927;

Descartes y el Idealismo Subjectivista Moderna, 1927;

Amor y Mundo, 1940;

Introduccion a la Fenomenologia, 1941.

According to Xirau the way essence of philosophic thought (Influence of Husserl and Heidegger) opposes the conception of philosophy as mere play of ideas or speculation of concepts. Philosophy is, above all, called upon to develop man in the sense of actualizing his inborn potentialities and bringing the fact and concept of personality to full fruition. Philosophy thus becomes pedagogical, and as such it will always have a great destiny to realize. -- J.A.F.