CHAPTER III.

THE PLACE OF SOCRATES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY pages 108-170

I. Universal celebrity of Socrates, 108—Our intimate knowledge of his appearance and character, 109—Conflicting views of his philosophy, 110—Untrustworthiness of the Platonic _Apologia_, 111—Plato’s account contradicted by Xenophon, 113—Consistency of the _Apologia_ with the general standpoint of Plato’s Dialogues, 114—The Platonic idea of science, 115-— How Plato can help us to understand Socrates, 116.

II. Zeller’s theory of the Socratic philosophy, 117—Socrates did not offer any definition of knowledge, 119—Nor did he correct the deficiencies of Greek physical speculation, 120—His attitude towards physics resembled that of Protagoras, 121—Positive theories of morality and religion which he entertained, 123.

III. True meaning and originality of the Socratic teaching, 125—Circumstances by which the Athenian character was formed, 126—Its prosaic, rationalistic, and utilitarian tendencies, 127—Effect produced by the possession of empire, 128—The study of mind in art and philosophy, 128—How the Athenian character was represented by Socrates, 129—His sympathy with its practical and religious side, 130—His relation to the Humanists, 131—His identification of virtue with knowledge, 132—The search for a unifying principle in ethics, 133—Importance of knowledge as a factor in conduct and civilisation, 133—Fundamental identity of all the mental processes, 136.

IV. Harmony of theory and practice in the life of Socrates, 137—Mind as a principle (i.) of self-control, (ii.) of co-operation, and (iii.) of spontaneous energy, 137—Derivation and function of the cross-examining elenchus, 138—How it illustrates the negative moment of Greek thought, 139—Conversations with Glauco and Euthydemus, 139—The erotetic method as an aid to self-discipline, 141—Survival of contradictory debate in the speeches of Thucydides, 142.

V. Why Socrates insisted on the necessity of defining abstract terms, 142—Subsequent influence of his method on the development of Roman law, 144—Substitution of arrangement by resemblance and difference for arrangement by contiguity, 145—The One in the Many, and the Many in the One: conversation with Charmides, 146—Illustration of ideas by their contradictory opposites, 147—The Socratic induction, (i.) an interpretation of the unknown by the known, 148—Misapplication of this method in the theory of final causes, 149—(ii.) A process of comparison and abstraction, 150—Appropriateness of this method to the study of mental phenomena, 151—Why it is inapplicable to the physical sciences, 151—Wide range of studies included in a complete philosophy of mind, 151—The dialectical elimination of inconsistency, 152.

VI. Consistency the great principle represented by Socrates, 152—Parallelism of ethics and logic, 154—The ethical dialectic of Socrates and Homer, 154—Personal and historical verifications of the Socratic method, 155—Its influence on the development of art and literature, 156—and on the relations between men and women, 158—Meaning of the Daemonium, 160.

VII. Accusation and trial of Socrates, 161—Futility of the charges brought against him, 162—Misconceptions of modern critics, 164—His defence and condemnation, 165—Worthlessness of Grote’s apology for the Dicastery, 166—Refusal of Socrates to save himself by flight, 168—Comparison with Giordano Bruno and Spinoza, 169—The monuments raised to Socrates by Plato and Xenophon, 169.