University of Virginia Library

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.