Xenocrates (Ksenokrates)

Xenocrates; Ksenokrates, of Chalcedon, 394-314 gg. BC. e., Greek philosopher. Ancient authors refer to several dozen names of works Ks. Among them were the natural scientific writings, treatises on ethics and mathematics, from which a few fragments preserved. Ks. Was second after Spevsippa heir of Plato in the Academy and that he had discovered during the so-called Old Academy. Deviation in the direction of Pythagoreanism, apparent in his declining years in Plato, even more pronounced in KC. Mathematical and geometric construction Ks. based on the Pythagorean concepts, and on this basis, Ks. tried to prove the assertion of Plato in the last period of his activity, that everything in the world, including the ideas that arise from the interaction of unity and duality (one and two). He also argued the thesis of Plato, which appeared in the latest of his works, that the idea is the number. Developing the idea of Plato on the highest deity, he introduced the concept of monad embodying the idea of. Thus Ks. became the forerunner of trends that developed in the Hellenistic period. During his Academy enjoyed public recognition, and he himself saw a man with an impeccable reputation. Much of his works, Ks. devoted to ethics in this area laid the foundation for the formation of individual ethics. However, this part of his philosophical system was under the influence of Pythagorean thought.