Chapter II.

Grecian Philosophy from Socrates to Aristotle.

(Fifth and fourth century B.C.)

§ 1. SOCRATES.

13. Characteristics of Grecian Philosophy during this Period. -- The genius of the Greeks attained to its full maturity in the fifth and fourth centuries (B.C.). Previously philosophers had studied only the external world, the non-ego. Now and henceforth we find them engrossed in the study of man, his activities, his nature, his destiny. They do not indeed neglect the external world, but they explore it in and through the investigation of man's cognoscitive faculties.

Grecian philosophy remains, as before, dogmatic. Its leading representatives never doubt the veracity of their faculties and the possibility of certain, scientific knowledge.

As in all other philosophical cycles, the golden age of Grecian philosophy is filled rather by personalities than by schools: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are among the profoundest thinkers the human race has ever produced.