INTRODUCTION
The Hellenic influence upon the intellectual development
of the world is infinite. The intellectual force
emanating from the sources of Greek art, literature and
philosophy permeated thru the ages and have helped to shape the destiny
of our civilization. "Except the blind forces of Nature," says Sir Henry
Sumner Maine, "nothing moves in this world which is not Greek in its
origin."
[1.] Without a shadow of doubt, Greek
Philosophy forms the firm background of progressive and reflective
thought in all its phases and ramifications.
In the history and evolution of Hellenic thought, we find
two tendencies of inquiry,—one dealing with the objective
manifestations of the universe, and the other directed towards
the study of the mind. To the former class belong Thales,
Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, and others that
attempted to discover some principle for the explanation of
the natural phenomena. To accomplish this end, mathematics,
physics, metaphysics, etc., were resorted to. The
other great epoch, which may be termed the Renaissance of
Greek Philosophy, was conceived by the Supreme Greek
thinker, Socrates, who forms the subject thesis of this paper.
Socrates was the father of psychology and the grandfather of
modern psychopathology. He was the first one that attempted to study man
from the point of view of subjectivity. In the words of Snyder, "In
Socrates, the human mind burst forth into knowing itself as
thinking."[2.] And Zeller very thoughtfully
remarks: "The interests of philosophy being thus turned away from the
outer world and directed towards man and his moral nature, and man only
regarding things as true and binding of the truth of which he was
convinced himself by intellectual research, there appears necessarily in
Socrates a deeper importance attached to the personality of the
thinker."[3.] In Phaedrus, Socrates speaks: "I
am a lover of knowledge, and in the cities I can learn from men; but the
fields can teach me nothing."[4.] Although
Aristophanes pictures Socrates in the clouds as preaching natural
philosophy, yet there is no authentic record of this.
The source of information regarding the biography of
Socrates and his philosophy comes from two authors, Xenophon
and Plato. The former portrays him as a moral
philosopher and in his book, Memorabilia, he seems to
eulogize his master. The latter however presents him as
a thinker, and it is maintained by many critics that Plato
put into the mouth of Socrates his own ideas. It is lamentable
that this great philosopher committed nothing of his
monumental work in writing.
