A BEGINNER’S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
SOCRATES
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A BEGINNER’S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
BY
HERBERT ERNEST CUSHMAN, LL.D., Ph.D.
Sometime Professor of Philosophy in Tufts College
Lecturer of Philosophy in Harvard College
Lecturer of Philosophy in Dartmouth College
VOL. I
ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL PHILOSOPHY
Revised Edition
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO
DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1910 AND 1918, BY HERBERT ERNEST CUSHMAN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
TO
GEORGE HERBERT PALMER, Litt.D., LL.D.
ALFORD PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
WHO HAS INTERPRETED LIFE TO
MANY YOUNG MEN BY MAKING
PHILOSOPHY A LIVING
SUBJECT TO THEM
PREFACE
This book is intended as a text-book for sketch-courses in the history of philosophy. It is written for the student rather than for the teacher. It is a history of philosophy upon the background of geography and of literary and political history.
As a text-book for sketch-courses it employs summaries, tables, and other generalizations as helps to the memory. The philosophical teaching is presented as simply as possible, so as to bring into prominence only the leading doctrines. My own personal criticism and interpretation on the one hand, and explanations in technical language on the other, have been avoided as far as possible. Sometimes I have had to choose between interpretation and technicality, in which case the limitations of space have determined my choice. Since the book is intended for the student rather than for the teacher, it makes the teacher all the more necessary; for it puts into the hands of the student an outline and into the hands of the teacher the class-room time for inspiring the student with his own interpretations. In making use of geographical maps, contemporary literature, and political history, this book is merely utilizing for pedagogical reasons the stock of information with which the college student is furnished when he begins the history of philosophy.
A good many years of experience in teaching the history of philosophy to beginners have convinced me that students come to the subject with four classes ofideas, with which they can correlate philosophic doctrines: good geographical knowledge, some historical and some literary knowledge, and many undefined personal philosophical opinions. Of course, their personal philosophical opinions form the most important group, but more as something to be clarified by the civilizing influence of the subject than as an approach to the subject itself. The only “memory-hooks” upon which the teacher may expect to hang philosophic doctrines are the student’s ideas of history, literature, and geography. If the history of philosophy is treated only as a series of doctrines, the student beginning the subject feels not only that the land is strange, but that he is a stranger in it. Besides, to isolate the historical philosophical doctrines is to give the student a wrong historical perspective, since philosophic thought and contemporary events are two inseparable aspects of history. Each interprets the other, and neither can be correctly understood without the other. If the history of philosophy is to have any significance for the beginner, it must be shown to give a meaning to history.
So far as the materials that form any history of philosophy are concerned, I have merely tried to arrange and organize them with reference to the student and with reference to the history of which they form an integral part. I am therefore overwhelmingly indebted to every good authority to whom I have had access, but in the main I have followed the inspiring direction of the great Windelband. Many willing friends have read parts of the manuscript and offered suggestions and criticisms. I am particularly indebted to Professors C. P. Parker, Ephraim Emerton, A. O. Norton, and J. H. Ropes, and Dr. B. A. G. Fuller of Harvard University;to Professor Mary W. Calkins of Wellesley College; to Professors C. S. Wade and D. L. Maulsby of Tufts College; and to my wife, Abby B. Cushman. However, for all the faults of the book, which has been many years in preparation, I am alone responsible.
Instead of lists of books for collateral reading, placed at the end of chapters or of the book, the student will find references in the footnotes to the exact pages of many helpful books. I should like to call the student’s attention to an appendix to the discussion of Plato. This is a complete selection of passages from Plato made by the late Professor Jowett for English readers. This selection Professor Jowett was accustomed to distribute to his Oxford class, of which I was once fortunate to be a member.
Philosophical terms have been defined either in the text or in the footnotes. Such definitions must necessarily have as their aim their usefulness to the student, rather than their completeness.
Tufts College, June, 1910.
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION
The only change which the reader will find in the revision of this volume is in the form of presentation of the philosophies of the earlier cosmologists (Chapter II).
HERBERT E. CUSHMAN.
West Newton, February, 1918.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION—The Three General Periods of the History of Philosophy, [1]
The Comparative Lengths of the Three General Periods, [1]
The Real Differences of the Three General Periods, [1]
Table of the Subdivisions of the Three General Periods, [4]
BOOK I. ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
(625 B. C.–476 A. D.)
CHAPTER I. The Early Greek in Ancient Philosophy, [5]
The Divisions of Ancient Philosophy, [5]
The Literary Sources of Ancient Philosophy, [6]
The Environment of the Early Greek, [7]
1. His Geographical Environment [7]
2. His Political Environment [7]
The Native Tendencies of the Early Greek, as seen (1) In the Development of his Religion, (2) in his Reflections upon Physical Events, and (3) in his Interest in Human Conduct, [9–11]
The Three Periods of Greek Philosophy, [12]
CHAPTER II. The Cosmological Period: The Philosophy of Nature, [15]
The Peril in the Greek Political Situation: Persia and Carthage, [15]
The Peril in the New Religion: The Mysteries and Pythagoras, [16]
Characteristics of the Cosmologists, [18]
Table of Cosmologists, [20]
How the Philosophical Question arose, [20]
Map showing the Cities where the Cosmologists lived, [21]
Summary Comparison of the Monistic Philosophies, [22]
1. The Milesian School, [24]
The Milesian Philosophy, [25]
2. Xenophanes, the Religious Philosopher, [26]
The Philosophy of Xenophanes, [27]
3. Heracleitus, “the Misanthropist” and “the Obscure,” [28]
a. Heracleitus’ Doctrine of Absolute and Universal Change, [28]
b. Fire is the Cosmic Substance, [29]
c. The Definite Changes of Fire, [30]
d. The Practical Philosophy of Heracleitus, [31]
4. The Eleatic School, [32]
a. Parmenides, [32]
(1) The Cosmic Substance is Being, [33]
(2) Other Things than the Cosmic Substance (Being) have no Real Existence, [34]
b. Zeno, [35]
The Philosophy of Zeno, [36]
The Results of the Conflict between Heracleitus and Parmenides, [37]
CHAPTER III. Pluralism, [39]
Efforts toward Reconciliation, [39]
The New Conception of Change of the Pluralists, [40]
The New Conception of the Unchanging of the Pluralists—The Element, [40]
The Introduction of the Conception of the Efficient Cause, [41]
Summary of Similarities and Differences IN the Theories of the Reconcilers, [41]
The Pluralistic Philosophers: Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Leucippus, and the Later Pythagoreans, [42]
The Philosophy of Empedocles, [44]
The Philosophy of Anaxagoras, [45]
The Philosophy of the Atomists—Leucippus and the School at Abdera, [47]
The Later Pythagoreans, [48]
1. The Pythagorean Conception of Being, [49]
2. The Pythagorean Dualistic World, [51]
3. Pythagorean Astronomy, [52]
Historical Retrospect, [53]
CHAPTER IV. The Anthropological Period: The Philosophy of Man, [55]
An Historical Summary of the Anthropological Period, [55]
The Persian Wars and the Rise of Athens, [56]
The Greek Enlightenment, [58]
1. The Impulse for Learning, [58]
2. The Practical Need of Knowledge, [59]
3. The Critical Attitude of Mind, [61]
The Significance of the Sophists, [64]
The Prominent Sophists, [67]
The Philosophy of the Sophists, [68]
1. The Relativism of Protagoras, [69]
2. The Nihilism of Gorgias, [70]
The Ethics of the Sophists.—The Application of their Critical Theory to Political Life, [71]
Summary, [73]
CHAPTER V. Socrates, [74]
Socrates and Aristophanes, [74]
The Personality and Life of Socrates, [75]
Socrates and the Sophists, [80]
The Unsystematic Character of the Socratic Philosophy, [82]
The Ideal of Socrates, [83]
What the Socratic Ideal Involves, [85]
The Two Steps of the Method of Socrates, [88]
Socrates and Athens, [91]
The Logical Expedients of Socrates, [92]
Socrates and the Lesser Socratics, [93]
The Cynic School, [95]
The Cyrenaic School, [96]
CHAPTER VI. The Systematic Period, [98]
The Waning of the Greek National Spirit, [98]
The Place of the Three Systematic Philosophers in Greek History, [98]
The Fundamental Principle of the Systematic Period, [100]
A Summary of Greek Philosophy, [102]
Greek Philosophy (objective), [103]
Democritus and Plato—Their Similarities and Differences, [104]
The Life of Democritus, [106]
The Comprehensiveness of the Aim of Democritus, [108]
The Enriched Physics of Democritus—Hylozoism becomes Materialism, [109]
The Materialistic Psychology of Democritus, [111]
Democritus’ Theory of Knowledge—The World of Twofold Reality, [114]
The Ethical Theory of Democritus, [116]
CHAPTER VII. Plato, [119]
Abdera and Athens, [119]
The Difficulties in Understanding the Teaching of Plato, [120]
The Life and Writings of Plato, [121]
1. Plato’s Student Life, [121]
2. Plato as Traveler, [122]
3. Plato as Teacher of the Academy, [124]
Concerning the Dialogues of Plato, [126]
The Factors in the Construction of Plato’s Doctrine, [128]
1. His Inherited Tendencies, [128]
2. His Philosophical Sources, [130]
The Divisions of Plato’s Philosophy, [131]
Summary of Plato’s Doctrine, [132]
The Formation of Plato’s Metaphysics, [132]
The Development of Plato’s Metaphysics—The Development of Plato’s Ideas in the Two Drafts, [136]
Brief Comparison of the Two Drafts of the Ideas, [137]
Comparison of the Two Drafts of Ideas in More Detail, [137]
1. The Number of Ideas in the Earlier and Later Drafts compared, [137]
2. The Relation of the Ideas and the World of Nature in the Two Drafts compared, [138]
3. The Relation among the Ideas in the Two Drafts compared, [140]
Plato’s Conception of God, [141]
Plato’s Conception of Physical Nature, [142]
Plato’s Conception of Man, [144]
Plato’s Doctrine of Immortality, [146]
1. The Immortality of Pre-Existence, [146]
2. The Immortality of Post-Existence, [149]
The Two Tendencies in Plato, [150]
Platonic Love, [151]
Plato’s Theory of Ethics, [153]
1. Development of Plato’s Theory of the Good, [153]
2. The Four Cardinal Virtues, [154]
3. Plato’s Theory of Political Society, [155]
Appendix—Jowett’s Selection of Passages from Plato for English Readers, [158]
CHAPTER VIII. Aristotle, [166]
Aristotle in the Academy and Lyceum, [166]
Biography of Aristotle, [168]
Brief Chronological Sketch of Aristotle’s Life, [168]
Aristotle’s Biography in Detail, [169]
1. First Period—Early Influences, [169]
2. Second Period—Traveler and Collector, [171]
3. Third Period—Administrator of the Lyceum, [172]
The Writings of Aristotle, [173]
1. The Popular Writings, published by Aristotle himself, [174]
2. The Compilations, [175]
3. The Didactic Writings, [175]
Aristotle’s Starting-Point, [176]
The Fundamental Principle in Aristotle’s Philosophy, [177]
Aristotle’s Logic, [180]
Aristotle’s Metaphysics, [185]
1. Development is Purposeful, [185]
2. Aristotle’s Two Different Conceptions of Purpose, [187]
3. Aristotle’s Conception of God, [190]
4. Aristotle’s Conception of Matter, [191]
5. Aristotle’s Conception of Nature, [192]
The Mechanical Series,—Aristotle’s Theory of Physics, [194]
The Teleological Series: The Qualitative Changes of Phenomena, [196]
1. The Psychology of Aristotle, [196]
2. The Ethics of Aristotle, [199]
(a) The Practical Virtues, [200]
(b) The Dianoetic Virtues, [201]
The Political Philosophy of Aristotle, [202]
CHAPTER IX. The Hellenic-Roman Period, [204]
Its Time Length, [204]
The Fall of the Greek Nation and the Persistence of its Civilization, [204]
Map of the Empire of Alexander, showing the Extension of Hellenism, [205]
The Two Parts of the Hellenic-Roman Period, [208]
1. The Ethical Period, [208]
2. The Religious Period, [208]
The Undercurrent of Skepticism in the Hellenic-Roman Period, [209]
The Fundamental Problem of the Hellenic-Roman Period, [211]
The Centres of Hellenism, [213]
1. Athens, [213]
2. Alexandria, [215]
General Characteristics of the Ethical Period, [215]
1. The Abandonment of Metaphysical Speculation, [216]
2. The Growth of Science, [216]
3. Ethics became the Central Interest, [217]
The Schools, [218]
Map of Athens, showing the Location of the Four Schools, [219]
The Old Schools—The Academy and the Lyceum, [220]
1. The Academy, [220]
2. The Lyceum, [221]
The New Schools—The Epicureans and the Stoics, [222]
A Summary of the Agreements and Differences of the Stoics and Epicureans, [225]
CHAPTER X. Epicureanism, [227]
The Life of Epicurus, [227]
The Epicureans, [228]
Some Types of Hedonism,—Aristippus, Epicurus, and Rousseau, [228]
The Epicurean Ideal, [230]
The Place of Virtue in Epicureanism, [233]
The Epicurean Wise Man, [234]
The Epicurean Wise Man in Society, [235]
The Great Obstacles to Happiness, [236]
Epicurus’ Conception of the Physical World.—Qualified Atomism, [238]
CHAPTER XI. Stoicism, [241]
The Position of Stoicism in Antiquity, [241]
The Three Periods of Stoicism, [242]
1. Period of Formulation of the Doctrine, [242]
2. Period of Modified Stoicism, [242]
3. Period of Roman Stoicism, [243]
The Stoic Leaders, [243]
The Stoic Writings, [246]
The Stoics and Cynics, [246]
The Two Prominent Stoic Conceptions, [247]
The Conception of Personality, [248]
1. The Stoic Psychology, [248]
2. The Highest Good, [250]
The Conception of Nature, [251]
1. Nature is an All-pervading World-Being, [253]
2. Nature is an All-compelling Law, [253]
3. Nature is Matter, [254]
The Conceptions of Nature and Personality supplement Each Other, [256]
The Stoic and Society, [257]
Duty and Responsibility, [259]
The Problem of Evil and the Problem of Freedom, [260]
The Modifications of the Stoic Doctrine after the First Period, [261]
CHAPTER XII. Skepticism and Eclecticism, [264]
The Appearances of Philosophic Skepticism, [264]
The Three Phases of Philosophic Skepticism, [265]
1. The First Phase of Philosophic Skepticism is called Pyrrhonism, [265]
2. The Second Period of Philosophic Skepticism—The Skepticism of the Academy, [266]
3. The Third Period of Philosophic Skepticism—Sensationalistic Skepticism, [268]
The Last Century and a Half of the Ethical Period, Eclecticism, [269]
CHAPTER XIII. The Religious Period, [273]
The Two Causes of the Rise of Religious Feeling, [273]
The Need of Spiritual Authority, [275]
The Rise of the Conception of Spirituality, [277]
The Revival of Platonism, [279]
The Divisions of the Religious Period, [280]
The Hellenic Religious Philosophies, [282]
The Introductory Period of Hellenic Religious Philosophy. The Turning to the Past for Spiritual Authority, [282]
1. The Greek-Jewish Philosophy of Philo, [282]
2. Neo-Pythagoreanism, [285]
The Development Period of Hellenic Religious Philosophy. The Turning to the Present for Spiritual Authority. Platonism and Neo-Platonism, [287]
Neo-Platonism and the Two Introductory Philosophies, [288]
Neo-Platonism and Christianity, [288]
The Periods of Neo-Platonism, [290]
The Alexandrian School. The Scientific Theory of Neo-Platonism. The Life and Writings of Plotinus, [290]
The General Character of the Teaching of Plotinus, [291]
The Mystic God, [292]
1. The Supra-Consciousness of God, [292]
2. The Conception of Dynamic Pantheism, [293]
The Two Problems of Plotinus, [293]
The World of Emanations.—The Metaphysical Problem of Plotinus, [294]
The Spirit, [294]
The Soul, [295]
Matter, [295]
The Return of the Soul to God.—The Ethical Problem of Plotinus, [297]
The Syrian School.—The Systematizing of Polytheisms.—Jamblichus, [298]
The Athenian School.—Recapitulation.—Proclus, [299]
CHAPTER XIV. Patristics.—The Hellenizing of the Gospel, [302]
The Early Situation of Christianity, [302]
The Philosophies influencing Christian Thought, [305]
The Periods of Early Christianity, [306]
The Apologists, [307]
The Gnostics, [310]
The Reaction against Gnosticism.—The Old Catholic Theologians, [312]
Origen and the School of Catechists, [314]