The elements of Greek philosophy from Thales to Aristotle

PREFACE

AS its title implies, this book is intended as an intro duction to the study of Greek philosophy, whether begun at the Universities or in our schools. That ele mentary philosophy makes an excellent school subject has long been a conviction of mine; the growing mind of an intelligent boy seizes upon it as upon nothing else; it helps to formulate his ideas to a quite remark able extent, and forms an educational instrument the neglect of which in England contrasts very unfavour ably with continental usage. If this neglect has been due, as I believe that it has, to the lack of a suitable book upon the subject, it is my modest hope that the present work will help forward the improvement of classical education in this country. At any rate it should enable a boy to take a more intelligent interest in much of his classical reading. Allusions to the early phil osophers are common in many of the authors usually read in schools, but to most boys they are mere names. This book will serve to give some significance to those names, and should also make the reading of such dia logues of Plato as are likely to be read in school more readily comprehended by the class. In past years





there has been in the teaching of classics a tendency to give an undue emphasis to the purely linguistic side of Latin and Greek, which is now being rectified by the more humanistic attitude of those teachers who are attributing a greater and greater importance to the content of these languages. I shall be gratified if these find my book of some service to them.

I hope also that undergraduates beginning the study of Greek philosophy will find my simplified exposition a real help towards the comprehension of more ad vanced works upon the subject. If they once grasp the general principles of the movement of thought in volved, they will not have to worry their tutors for an explanation of elementary points to the extent which I myself did in my student-days. Remembering this I have attempted at the outset to give some idea, in language as simple as I could command, of what phil osophy is. Then come two chapters dealing with the Ionian physicists and the Pre-Socratics, in dealing with whom my main desire has been simply to make the philosophical development, which they represent, clear enough to render Plato intelligible. At the same time I have tried to bring out the general significance of the philosophical positions, which they maintained, in such a way that the student will not lose sight of main principles amid a mass of details—will not, as we say, fail to see the wood for the trees. Moreover, as I wanted to make these philosophers real to the reader, and not a mere set of names upon which to hang this or that doctrinal "tag," I have recorded the gist of



what we are told about them in the various classical authors—all of which has led to a somewhat more lengthy treatment than one would at first imagine to be necessary. After a chapter upon the Sophists, we come to the main body of the book in the two chapters upon Socrates and Plato. Here alone have I given trans lations from the ancient authors to any extent, because here alone are we dealing with an author who has a purely literary, as well as a philosophical, value. For the same reason I have given very few passages from Aristotle—they will just serve to give some idea of his style—but confined myself to an analysis (a very close one as regards the early books of the " Ethics ") of such teaching of his as is both intelligible to young minds and stimulating or helpful in the ordering of our thought.

I must here make what acknowledgment I can of my indebtedness to others. What I owe, especially in reference to the Pre-Socratics, to Professor Burnet's two books on " Early Greek Philosophy " and " Greek Phil osophy from Thales to Plato" will be obvious to all who have read them. With regard to Plato I owe almost everything to Professor J. A. Stewart of Oxford, not only to his well-known books on "