Greek Philosophy
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GREEK PHILOSOPHY THALES TO PLATO BY JOHN BURNET MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1950 oor/:rsra?xtxras WJBUCOJBC OONVJQ3WXIOJNT Firtit 3]<iltlon JLO2O, 1024, 19^8, 103^, 1943, 1O<H>, XO5O PREFACE THE preparation of this volume was undertaken some years ago, but was interrupted by my work on the Lexicon Platonicum^ which has proved a more formidable task than was at first anticipated. I have to thank the editor of this series and the publishers for their generous indulgence in the circumstances. It is unfortunate in some respects that I have been obliged to deal with certain parts of the subject in a form which does not admit of detailed argument and still less of controversy. The second edition of my Early Greek 2 Philosophy (referred to as E. Gr. P/z. ) makes this in large measure unnecessary in Book I., but there are certain parts of Book III. where I have had to state my conclusions baldly in the hope that I may have a later opportunity of discussing their grounds. My chief aim for the present has been to assist students who wish to acquire a firsthand knowledge of what Plato actually says in the dialogues of his maturity. So long as they are content to know some- thing of the Republic and the earlier dialogues, Platonism must be a sealed book to them. I have not thought it well to present Greek names in a Latin dress. I see no advantage, and many disadvantages, in writing Herakleitos as Heraclitus. It often leads to his being called out of his name, as the Emperor Herakleios vi PREFACE as usually is when disguised Heraclius. On the other hand, the Latin titles of Plato's dialogues are English words. Theaitetos of Athens is best left with the beautiful " name chosen for him by his father Euphronios, but the" Th&aetetus is as much English as TJmsakniam, We shall it reach on this matter I never, seems, agreement ; only wish to explain my own practice. friend I have to thank my and former colleague, Sir Henry Jones, for many valuable suggestions and, above all, for his constant encouragement. Mr. Hetherington of Glasgow University was good enough to verify most of my references, and the proofs have been carefully read by Mr. W. L. Lorimer, Lecturer in Greek at the Univer- sity of St. Andrews. For the imperfections which remain I am solely responsible. J. B. CONTENTS PACK INTRODUCTION- -------i BOOK I. THE WORLD CHAPTER I THE IONIANS 17 Miletos 17 The Breakdown of Ionian Civilisation 28 - - - - - - - - 1 Religion 3 Enlightenment -------32 CHAPTER II PYTHAGORAS --------37 The Problem - 37 Life and Doctrine ------ 38 Music ..------45 Medicine --------49 Numbers ---- -.-.51 CHAPTER III HERAKLEITOS AND PARMENIDES 57 Herakleitos -------'57 Parmenides --------63 viii CONTENTS CHAPTER IV PACK THE PLURALISTS - ..... ----- ---69 Empedokles- yj Anaxagoras -------.76 CHAPTER V ELEATICS AND PYTHAGOREANS ... 82 Zeno - ........ 82 Melissos ----....85 - - - - The Later Pythagoreans * 87 CHAPTER VI LEUJCIPPOS - ...... -94 BOOK II. KNOWLEDGE AND CONDUCT CHAPTER VII THE SOPHISTS ....... -105 Law and Nature - - - - - - -105 The "Sophists" ....... 107 - - - Protagoras - - - - -no Hippias and Prodikos - - - - - - 118 Gorgias ........ n 9 Eclectics and Reactionaries - - - - - 122 CHAPTER VIII THE LIFE OF SOKRATES ----.. 126 The Problem - - - - - - -126 The Platonic Sokrates - - - - - -128 Aristophanes and Xenophon - - - - -144 CONTENTS ix CHAPTER IX PA.GB THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOKRATES - - - - 151 The Associates of Sokrates - - - - - 151 The Forms 154 Goodness - - - - - - -170 CHAPTER X THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF SOKRATES 180 The Condemnation - - - - - - 180 182 The Alleged Offence The Real Offence 185 The Pretext 189 The Death of Sokrates *9 X CHAPTER XI DEMOKRITOS - - J 93 Theory of Knowledge 19 Theory of Conduct 199 BOOK III. PLATO CHAPTER XII PLATO AND THE ACADEMY .... - 205 Plato's Early Life 205 Foundation of the Academy - - 213 Plato and Isokrates - - - - - -215 The Methods of the Academy - - - 219 The of Studies ----- 223 Programme Eukleides and Plato ------ 230 CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII PAGE CRITICISM ........ 234 The Theaetetus - - - - - - -237 The Parmenides ....... 253 CHAPTER XIV LOGIC ......... 273 The Sophist ..-._-. 273 CHAPTER XV -POLITICS ......... 290 The Statesman ....... 290 Plato and -..-.. Dionysios 294 The Laws -------. 301 Education ........ 305 CHAPTER XVI THE PHILOSOPHY OF NUMBERS - 312 L Forms, Mathematical and Sensibles - - 315 IL The One and the Indeterminate Dyad - - 320 The Philebus- ----.. 324 CHAPTER XVII THE PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENT - ... 333 The Soul -------- 332 God --------- 335 The World 338 Conclusion ---.---- 349 APPENDIX - - . - - . - -351 INDEX .........352 INTRODUCTION I No one will ever succeed in writing a history of philo- for like works of are sophy ; philosophies, art, intensely personal things. It was Plato's belief, indeed, that no philosophical truth could be communicated in writing at all it some sort of immediate contact that ; was only by one soul could kindle the flame in another. Now in dealing with the philosophy of an earlier age, we are wholly con- fined to written records, and these are usually fragmentary and often second-hand or of doubtful authority. They are written, too, in a language which at best we only half understand, and have been moulded by influences for the be in most part beyond our ken. It will only, therefore, so far as the historian can reproduce the Platonic contact of souls that his work will have value. In some measure faith often able to break this is possible. Religious seems through the barriers of space and time, and so to appre- its but such faith is hend object directly ; something the personal and incommunicable, and in the same way historian's reconstruction of the past is primarily valid for himself alone. It is not a thing he can hand over ready- made to others. There is nothing mysterious about this inter- aspect either of religious faith or of philological has the same pretation. On the contrary, all knowledge that a man character. In the present case it only means who tries to spend his life in sympathy with the ancient philo- 1 itself sophers will sometimes find a direct conviction forcing 1 is This is what Plato calls T<> <rv{fiv (Ep. vii. 341 c), but he thinking of the living, not the dead. 2 INTRODUCTION he upon him, the grounds of which can only represented of references in a very imperfectly by a number footnote. Unless the enumeration of passages is complete and it can never be complete and unless each passage tells exactly in the same way, which depends on its being read in the light of innumerable other passages not consciously present to memory, the so-called proofs will not produce the same effect on any two minds. That is the sense in which philological inquiry, like every other inquiry, requires an act of faith. It is clear, however, that no one whose experience has not been identical can be called on to repeat this act after another, and for this reason professed histories of philosophy are often more of a hindrance than a help. They seem only to interpose another obstacle where there ?ire obstacles enough already. But though a history of philosophy is impossible, there are some humbler tasks that can in a measure be per- formed, and of which the performance may help to prepare the way for a more direct vision. In the first place, there are certain external matters that may be determined with considerable accuracy and which are not without importance. We are more likely to understand a philosopher rightly if we know the time he lived at and the surroundings that may have helped to shape his even thought, though these can never wholly explain him. It is particularly useful to know what other philosophers he^was acquainted with, either directly or through their In the writings. second place, the development of Greek philosophy depends on the progress of scientific, and especially mathematical, discovery more than on anything and it is else, possible to ascertain pretty accurately the stage Greek science had reached by a given time. The records are full, and, when critically used, trustworthy. It is for these reasons that this work deals so largely with matters which may appear at first to lie outside the pro- vince of That in philosophy. is, fact, its chief justification, It is an to lead the attempt reader to the right point of from which he view, may then see for himself. Lastly, MYTHOLOGY 3 there is what may be called the cathartic or purgative obstacles function of history. The greatest of all the we scholastic have to surmount is just the mass of explana- tion and dogma which so soon overwhelm the teaching of the any original genius. To clear that away is perhaps greatest service that can be rendered in this field. We do not wish to see Plato with the eyes of Aristotle, or even of Plotinos, but if possible, face to face, and anyone who can help us here deserves our thanks. It lies in the may seem a purely negative service, but that nature of the case. In the long run the positive con- struction must be left to the individual student, and no can two students will see quite alike. All the historian do is to point the way, and warn others off tracks which have already been found to lead nowhere. what Even this, however, implies that we know already unless some notion of philosophy is, and clearly, we have that, we shall be in danger of losing the thread of our such a defini- story. We can nevertheless dispense with of all tion as would be applicable to the philosophy ages notion of and peoples, for we shall find a pretty clear what philosophy was during the Hellenic period emerging to one as we go on.