Editing Paul Feyerabend (section)

====Xenophanes and the rise of rationalism====
{{See also|Farewell to Reason}}
In ''Farewell to Reason'', Feyerabend criticizes Popper's claim that [[Xenophanes]], who Feyerabend calls a "conceited bigmouth" with "considerable charm",{{sfn|Feyerabend|1987|p=91}} was the first to engage in rational criticism in his arguments against [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic gods]]. According to Feyerabend, Xenophanes' theological writings can only constitute a criticism if the premises would be accepted by his opponents. Otherwise, Xenophanes is merely rejecting the [[Homeric gods]]. In the ''[[Iliad]]'', and elsewhere, Feyerabend interprets [[Homer]] as accepting the view that the universe is subdivided into parts with different laws and qualitative features that do not aggregate into a unified whole. This informs Homer's [[theology]] since there can be no coherent knowledge of the whole of the universe, only detailed understandings of isolated parts of the universe.{{sfn|Feyerabend|1987|pp=97-98}} Feyerabend further argues that some thinkers who came after Xenophanes, such as [[Aeschylus]] and [[Sophocles]], also rejected Xenophanes' premise that the gods cannot be anthropomorphic.{{sfn|Feyerabend|1987|p=99}} Additionally, Xenophanes represents the beginning of a tyrannical ideology which enforces 'truth' and 'morality' upon all as if there was a single universe that could be captured in a single worldview.{{sfn|Feyerabend|1987|p=100}}

Feyerabend also criticizes Xenophanes' pretensions to have developed a conception of [[God]] that has no human features, arguing that Xenophanes' God still engages in human activities (such as thinking or hearing).{{sfn|Feyerabend|1987|p=95}} Moreover, he argues that Xenophanes' God resembles a monster as it becomes more detached from human affairs and is therefore more morally problematic than the Homeric gods.{{sfn|Feyerabend|1987|p=95}}