A Sketch of Philosophy [pp. 126-132]

THE LADIES' REPOSITORY.
than eight years, and afterward at the
head of an academy in Athens. But instead of carrying philosophy into the
streets, as his master had done, he lived
entirely wvithldrawn firom the public, satisfied in influencing his pupils. Amiong
his earliest works are dialogues that treat
of Socratic questions and themes in a
Socratic way. All his reasoning was as
subyective as that of his great model.
He says: "The cause of all impurity and
irreligioni amiong men is that reversing
in themselves the relative subordination
of mind and body; they have, in like
manner, in the universe made that to be
first whichl is second, and that second
which is first; for, while in the generation
of all things, intelligence and final causes
precede matter and efficient causes, they,
on the contralry, have viewed matter and
material things as absolutely prior in the
order of existence to intelligence and design; and thus departing firom an original error in regard to themselves, they
have ended in the subversion of the Godhead."
The Platonic system (Socrates obljectified) may be divided into three parts,logic, ethics, and physics. The order
which they should take he has not declared. He had some Pythagorean doctrines, such as the pre-existence and
trainsmigration of souls, the conception of
love, etc. He tried to prove the iimmortality of the soul, but he did not convince
even himself, and recognized the great
truth, iinowv so apparent, that this question
does not belong to the province of reasoning, and calls for a special revelation.
As Plato was the only true Socratist, so
Aristotle was the only genuine disciple
of Plato. He was born 384 B. C., and
stands out for the most parit as a thoughtful observer. Kant has remarked that
since the time of this Grecian sage, logic
has made no progress. He devised the
syllogismi and 1was the father of modern
psychology. The great difference bletwveen
Aristotle and his predecessors is, that they
began with any principles whatever, perhaps inmaginaiy, and he began the sciences only with established facts. And
though, as Draper says, "Conflict between Science and Religion," this latter
system "implies endless toil in the collection of facts, both by experiment and
observation, and implies also a close
meditation of them," the grandest of results has been reached. Plato devoted
himself to the higher faculties of the
mind; Aristotle analyzed those faculties
that were more nearly related to the
senses. Draper compares Plato's philosophy to a gorgeous castle in the air,
while Aristotle's is a solid structure, laboriously founded on a rock.
Aristotle's method was induction, and
he was the founder of a new school, differing from the Platonic in that while
the latter holds a dualism of material objects and mental ideas, the former is of
the opinion that phenomena, whether
material or spiritual, are in the things
themselves and not behind them.
"While the Scientific school of Alexandria was founded on the maxims of
one great Athl)enian philosopher, the Ethical school was founded on another, for
Zeno, though a Cypr-iote or Phlcenician,
had for many years been establishled in
Athens. His disciples took the name of
Stoics. His aim was to ftlrnishl a guide
for the daily practice of life, to make men
virtuous. He insists thllt education is the
true foundation of vii-tule, for if we know
what is good, we shall incline to do it."
Zeno, with:l his stern commands to control the passions, to -reg-ulate life by reason, and sul)bmit to the law of necessity,
is still the type of the highest teachings
of science unaided by religion, and he
was no more successful than are the
moralists of to-day.
In the intellectual decline of Alexandria, indolent methods were preferred to
those necessitating laborious observation,
and alluring imagination was oftener followed than severe reason.
-Ieo-oplatonisiz is the last great product
of Greek Philosophy. It had for its object
pantheistic eclecticism; it endeavored to
ally the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato
to the theosophy of the Orient, and
tended to mysticism and theurgy, or an
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[August,