THE substance of the following work has been already presented to the public in several Articles by the Author, which have appeared successively under the titles of Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, in a recent edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. As these Articles all related to one definite period in the History of Ancient Philosophy, and are intimately connected with one another; it was suggested to the Author, that they might advantageously be combined as a whole in a separate Volume. For this purpose, accordingly, a revision of them has been undertaken, and considerable additions have been made under each head of the Inquiry; so as to convey, it is hoped, a more accurate and full information concerning the state of Philosophy during the period in question. In contemplating this period as a whole, there can be no doubt that the philosophy of Aristotle occupies the foreground; whether we regard it, as giving a systematic form, and definite expression, to what had been before, either indiscriminately taught, or only sketched in outline and shadow, under the general name of Philosophy, by his immediate predecessors; or refer to its established empire in the world, and its effects subsisting even in our own times; especially as these are manifested in vi the high authority still attributed to those masterly works, the Treatises of Logic, Rhetoric, and Ethics, the glory of his philosophic genius. The attention of the reader has therefore been naturally directed to Aristotle in the first instance. Next, on the same principle, would follow the inquiry into the Philosophy of Plato; as, in like manner, the development of the teaching of Socrates, so far as it was a consequence of that teaching. Looking, thus, at the results of the lines of thought and tendencies existing in their antecedents, we shall be better enabled to trace out the respective contributions of each Philosopher to the common result. By thus prosecuting the order of study, we shall be acting in the spirit of that direction of the greatest of modern philosophers; where he bids us, if we would rightly estimate any particular science, not" stand on the level with it, but climb up, as it were, into the watch-tower of some higher science," and so, taking the prospect of it from above, explore the more remote, as well as the more interior, parts of it, then made apparent to the view.* * Bacon, De Aug. Scient. Works, 8vo, ed. 1857, vol. i. p. 460. Account of his Writings, and Reception of his Philosophy State of Philosophy before his time. General Character of Its Threefold Division into 1. Theoretic; 2. Efficient; 3. Practical- ARISTOTLE. THE power of philosophy in fixing an impression of itself on the world, appears, when attentively viewed, no less than that evidenced in successful exertions of civil or military talents. But there is a striking difference in the comparative interest excited by the philosopher himself, and by the distinguished statesman or general. The personal fortunes of the philosopher are not connected with the effects of his philosophy. He has passed away from the eyes of men, when his powerful agency begins to be perceived; whereas the statesman and the commander of armies are at once set before us in the very effects which they produce on the world; and the history which tells of their policy or their conquests assumes almost the character of their biographies. This contrast is strongly displayed in the instance of the particular philosopher whose life we would now retrace. At this day, after the lapse of more than twenty-one centuries from the time when he flourished, we are experiencing the power of Aristotle's philosophy, in its effects on language, and literature, and science, and even on theology; and yet little satisfactory information can be obtained from Antiquity respecting the philosopher himself. No account of him appears to have been given until his celebrity had attracted envy as well as admiration; so. that we are compelled to receive with suspicion everything beyond the simple detail of a few facts. Stagirus, a Grecian city in the peninsula of Chalcidice, It is also written Stagira. We have the authority of Herodotus and Thucydides for Stagirus. B |