The Greek Philosophers, Vol. 1 (of 2)Benn, Alfred William
Philosophy
The Greek Philosophers, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Benn, Alfred William
Philosophy, Ancient
Logical division is, however, a process not fully represented by any
fixed and formal distribution of topics, nor yet is it equivalent
to the arrangement of genera and species according to their natural
affinities, as in the admirable systems of Jussieu and Cuvier. It
is something much more flexible and subtle, a carrying down into
the minutest detail, of that psychological law which requires, as
a condition of perfect consciousness, that feelings, conceptions,
judgments, and, generally speaking, all mental modes should be
apprehended together with their contradictory opposites. Heracleitus
had a dim perception of this truth when he taught the identity of
antithetical couples, and it is more or less vividly illustrated by
all Greek classic literature after him; but Socrates seems to have
been the first who transformed it from a law of existence into a law
of cognition; with him knowledge and ignorance, reason and passion,
freedom and slavery, virtue, and vice, right and wrong (πολλῶν ὀνομάτων
μορφὴ μία) were apprehended in inseparable connexion, and were employed
for mutual elucidation, not only in broad masses, but also through
their last subdivisions, like the delicate adjustments of light and
shade on a Venetian canvas. This method of classification by graduated
descent and symmetrical contrast, like the whole dialectic system of
which it forms a branch, is only suited to the mental phenomena for
which it was originally devised; and Hegel committed a fatal error
when he applied it to explain the order of external coexistence and
succession. We have already touched on the essentially subjective
character of the Socratic definition, and we shall presently have to
make a similar restriction in dealing with Socratic induction. With
regard to the question last considered, our limits will not permit us,
nor, indeed, does it fall within the scope of our present study, to
pursue a vein of reflection which was never fully worked out either by
the Athenian philosophers or by their modern successors, at least not
in its only legitimate direction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account