THE GREEK HUMANISTS: NATURE AND LAW pages 53-107
[I]. The reaction of speculation on life, [53]—Moral superiority of the Greeks to the Hebrews and Romans, [54]—Illustrations of humanity from the Greek poets, [55]—Temporary corruption of moral sentiment and its explanation, [56]—Subsequent reformation effected by philosophy, [57]—The Greek worship of beauty not incompatible with a high moral standard, [58]—Preference of the solid to the showy virtues shown by public opinion in Greece, [59]—Opinion of Plato, [60].
[II]. Virtues inculcated in the aphorisms of the Seven Sages, [62]—Sôphrosynê as a combination of moderation and self-knowledge, [62]—Illustrations from Homer, [62]—Transition from self-regarding to other-regarding virtue, [63]—How morality acquired a religious sanction (i.) by the use of oaths, 64—(ii.) by the ascription of a divine origin to law, 65—(iii.) by the practice of consulting oracles on questions of right and wrong, [65]—Difference between the Olympian and Chthonian religions, [66]—The latter was closely connected with the ideas of law and of retribution after death, [67]—Beneficent results due to the interaction of the two religions, [68].
[III]. The religious standpoint of Aeschylus, [69]—Incipient dissociation of religion from morality in Sophocles, [70]—Their complete separation in Euripides, [71]—Contrast between the Eteocles of Aeschylus and the Eteocles of Euripides, [72]—Analogous difference between Herodotus and Thucydides, [73]—Evidence of moral deterioration supplied by Aristophanes and Plato, [74]—Probability of an association between intellectual growth and moral decline, [75].
[IV]. The Sophists, [76]—Prodicus and Hippias, [77]—Their theory of Nature as a moral guide, [79]—Illustration from Euripides, [80]—Probable connexion of the Cynic school with Prodicus, [81]—Antithesis between Nature and Law, [81]—Opposition to slavery, [82]—The versatility of Hippias connected with his advocacy of Nature, [83]—The right of the stronger as a law of Nature, [84].
[V]. Rise of idealism and accompanying tendency to set convention above Nature, [85]—Agnosticism of Protagoras, [87]—In what sense he made man the measure of all things, [88]—His defence of civilisation, [89]—Similar views expressed by Thucydides, [90]—Contrast between the naturalism of Aeschylus and the humanism of Sophocles, [91]—The flexible character of Nomos favourable to education, [92]—Greek youths and modern women, [93]—The teaching of rhetoric, [93]—It is subsequently developed into eristicism, [94].
[VI]. The nihilism of Gorgias, [95]—His arguments really directed against the worship of Nature, [96]—The power of rhetoric in ancient Athens and modern England, [97]—The doctrines of Protagoras as developed by the Cyrenaic school, [99]—and by the Megaric school, [100]—Subsequent history of the antithesis between Nature and Law, [100].
[VII]. Variety of tendencies represented by the Sophists, [102]—Their position in Greek society, [103]—The different views taken of their profession in ancient and modern times, [104]—Their place in the development of Greek philosophy, [107].
THE PLACE OF SOCRATES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY pages 108-170