Greek Thinkers; a History of Ancient Philosophy

Abstract

THE study of the history of Greek philosophy requires no defence and, fortunately, little encouragement. Confessedly our intellectual culture can be traced to Greek origin. The subject is so engrossing, and the full comprehension so indispensable, that able minds will be ever ready to consider the problem and give it fuller illustration. How far the questions that provoked discussion in the Greek colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean were intuitive, how far they were acquired, is of small importance in comparison with the manner in which they affect us. In these days, when the spirit of inquiry is active, we may doubt whether we tap the true source of originality by questioning Greek texts and obscure fragments. The spade of the archæologist is proving itself an equally potent factor. The sandhills and tombs of Egypt have been made to reveal the secrets they have kept so well. Explorations among the ruins of ancient Babylonian or Assyrian cities have unearthed the traces of a highly developed civilisation on the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates which may have operated not less powerfully on the Greek colonists than the Greek philosophy has affected us. It may be that the student of the future, in his anxiety to trace the earliest effects on the human mind, will have to begin his criticism still farther back, but in the absence of any considerable literature we must at present be content to regard our culture as a Greek product.

Greek Thinkers; a History of Ancient Philosophy.

By Theodor Gomperz, Professor at the University of Vienna. Vol. i. Translated by Laurie Magnus, MA. Pp. xv + 610. (London: John Murray, 1901.) Price 14s. net.