[CONTENTS]
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
EARLY GREEK THOUGHTpages 1-52
[I]. Strength and universality of the Greek intellect, [1]—Specialisation of individual genius, [2]—Pervading sense of harmony and union, [3]—Circumstances by which the intellectual character of the Greeks was determined, [3]—Philosophy a natural product of the Greek mind, [4]—Speculation at first limited to the external world, [4]—Important results achieved by the early Greek thinkers, [5]—Their conception of a cosmos first made science possible, [6]—The alleged influence of Oriental ideas disproved, [6].
[II]. Thales was the first to offer a purely physical explanation of the world, [7]—Why he fixed on water as the origin of all things, [8]—Great advance made by Anaximander, [9]—His conception of the Infinite, 9-Anaximenes mediates between the theories of his two predecessors, [10]—The Pythagoreans: their love of antithesis and the importance attributed to number in their system, [11]—Connexion between their ethical teaching and the general religious movement of the age, [13]—Analogy with the mediaeval spirit, [13].
[III]. Xenophanes: his attacks on the popular religion, [14]—Absence of intolerance among the Greeks, [15]—Primitive character of the monotheism taught by Xenophanes, [16]—Elimination of the religious element from philosophy by Parmenides, [16]—His speculative innovations, [17]—He discovers the indestructibility of matter, [17]—but confuses matter with existence in general, [18]—and more particularly with extension, [19]—In what sense he can be called a materialist, [19]—New arguments brought forward by Zeno in defence of the Eleatic system, [20]—The analytical or mediatorial moment of Greek thought, [21]—Influence of Parmenides on subsequent systems of philosophy, [22]—Diametrically opposite method pursued by Heracleitus, [22]—His contempt for the mass of mankind, [22]—Doctrine of universal relativity, [23]—Fire as the primordial element, [24]—The idea of Law first introduced by Heracleitus, [25]—Extremes to which his principles were afterwards carried, [25]—Polarisation of Greek thought, [26].
[IV]. Historical order of the systems which succeeded and mediated between Parmenides and Heracleitus, [26]—Empedocles: poetic and religious character of his philosophy, [27]—His inferiority to previous thinkers, [28]—Eclectic tendency of his system, [29]—In what respects it marks an advance on that of Parmenides, [29]—His alleged anticipation of the Darwinian theory, [30]—The fixity of species a doctrine held by every ancient philosopher except Anaximander, [31]—The theory of knowledge put forward by Empedocles: its objective and materialistic character, [32]—How it suggested the Atomic theory, [33]—The possibility of a vacuum denied by Parmenides and asserted by Leucippus, [34]—The Atomic theory developed and applied by Democritus: encyclopaedic range of his studies, [35]—His complete rejection of the supernatural, [36].
[V]. Anaxagoras at Athens, [36]—He is accused of impiety and compelled to fly, [37]—Analysis of his system, [38]—Its mechanical and materialistic tendency, [39]—Separation of Nous from the rest of Nature, [40]—In denying the divinity of the heavenly bodies, Anaxagoras opposed himself to the universal faith of antiquity, [40]—The exceptional intolerance of the Athenians and its explanation, [42]—Transition from physical to dialectical and ethical philosophy, [43].
[VI]. Early Greek thought as manifested in literature and art, [45]—The genealogical method of Hesiod and Herodotus, [47]—The search for first causes in Pindar and Aeschylus, [48]—Analogous tendencies of sculpture and architecture, [49]—Combination of geographical with genealogical studies, [50]—The evolution of order from chaos suggested by the negative or antithetical moment of Greek thought, [50]—Verifiable and fruitful character of early Greek thought, [52].