He was an atheist of the Southern Qi Dynasty, remembered today for his treatise Shén Miè Lùn (simplified Chinese 神灭论, traditional Chinese 神滅論, "On the Annihilation of the Soul"), preserved in the Book of Liang.
Fàn was born into a poor family in today's Zhumadian, Henan province.
He was a member of a cadet branch of the elite Fàn family, and became a high-ranking official thanks to his erudition.
In response to the prevailing Buddhist movement of his time, he wrote Shen Mie Lun in 507, a treatise denying the ideas of reincarnation and body-soul dualism.
In Shen Mie Lun, Fàn writes a series of statements as responses to questioning, such as: