PLATO AND THE OLDER ACADEMY

641 Pages·1876·36.24 MB·English

by  Dr.E.Zeller

PLATO
AND
CHE OLDER ACADEMY
TRANSLATED WITH THE AUTHORS SANCTION
FROM THE GERMAN OF
DR. EDUARD ZELLE& ' \ \{ Y
' fflVEKSlTY o
AIJFo/
SARAH FRANCES ALLEYNE
AND
ALFRED GOODWIN, M.A.
Fellow and Lecturer of Balliol College, Oxford
LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1876
All rights rtserved

4
4
PBEFACE.
THIS TRANSLATION of Dr. ZELLER'S 'Plato unddiealtere
Akademie' Section 2, Part 2,Vol. II. ofhis < Philoso-
phic der Grriechen' has been madefrom the third and
enlarged edition of that work, an earlier portion of
which ('Sokrates und die Sokratiker') has already ap-
peared in English in the translation ofDr. EEICHEL.
The text has been translated by Miss ALLEYNE, who
desires to express her grateful acknowledgments to Dr.
ZELLER for his courteous approval of the undertaking.
For the notes, and for the revision of the whole, Mr.
G-OODWIN is responsible.
The references in the notes require some explana-
tion : Simple figures, with or without supra or infra,
indicate the pages and notes ofthe Englishtranslation.
Vol. I. means the first (German) volume ofthe 'Philo-
sophic der Griechen,' and Part I. the ErsteAbtheilung
ofthe second volume.
Ofthevalue ofDr. ZELLER'S work in the original,it
PREFACE.
vi
is unnecessary to speak. Professor JOWETThas recently
borne ample and honourable testimony to it in the
preface tothe second edition of his Plato. It is hoped
that the present translation may be of use to some
students of Plato who are perhaps less familiar with
German than Greek.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I.
PLATO'S LIFE.
........ PAGE
ChildhoodandYouth 1
Relation toSocrates
.14
SojournatMegara. Travels . , . . . .
TeachingintheAcademy 25
AttitudetoPolitics. Second andthirdSicilianjourneys . . 29
Death 35
Character 36
.
CHAPTER
II.
PLATO'S WRITINGS.
..........
GeneralEnquiryintotheStateofourCollection;its Completeness 45
Genuineness 49
ExternalEvidence 50
Referencesof Aristotle 54
Review of these 64
....
Valueof theirTestimony 72
Criterionof AuthenticityinPlatonicWritings 77
....
ParticularDialogues 81
Plato'sWritingstheRecordsof hisPhilosophy 87
CHAPTER
III.
THE ORDER OF THE PLATONIC WORKS.
ScopeandDesignof theEnquiry 92
EarlyAttemptsatan Arrangementof theWritings . . 97
CONTENTS.
viii
PAGE
Schleiermacher 99
Hermann 102
TheirFollowers ' 104
Standardof Criticism 109
Its applicationtoourCollection 117
Early Works 119
Gorgias, Meno, Theaetetus, Euthydemus, Phaedrus . . .125
Sophist, Politicus, Parmenides, Philebus, Euthydemus, Cratylus,
Symposium, Phsedo 136
Republic,Timaeus, Critias, Laws 139
CHAPTER IV.
CHARACTER, METHOD, AND DIVISION OFPLATO'S PHILOSOPHY 144
CharacterinrelationtoSocrates 144
Tothepre-Socratics 147
DialecticMethod 150
FormofPlato'sWritings. PhilosophicDialogue . . . 153
Connection withthePersonalityof Socrates . . . . 159
Myths 160
Divisionof theSystem 164
CHAPTER V.
PROPAEDEUTIC GROUNDWORK OF PLATO'S DOCTRINE . 170
1. OrdinaryConsciousness. ItsTheoreticSide . . . 170
ItsPracticalSide 175
2. SophisticDoctrine. Its Theoryof Knowledge . . fl83
ItsEthics . 184
Sophisticasa Whole 189
Philosophy 190
ThePhilosophicImpulse,Eros 191
ThePhilosophi.cMet.hod,.Dial.ectic......... 196
ItsElements; Formation of Concepts 199
Classification 204
LogicalDeterminations . . . . . . 208
Language 210
Philosophyas aWhole; Stages of Philosophic Develop-
ment 214
.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEK VI.
PAGE
DIALECTIC, OB THE DOCTRINE OF IDEAS. . 225
1. TheDoctrineof Ideasfoundeduponthatof Knowledge . 225
Andof Being 228
Proofsasgivenby Aristotle 232
HistoricOriginof theDoctrine 233
2. Concept of Ideas 237
Ideasas UniversalsorGenera 238
As Substances 240
As ConcreteUnities " 248
OrNumbers 254
.
AsLivingPowers 261
3. TheWorldof Ideas . . 271
Extent . . . . . . . . 271
Subdivisions 276
ThemostUniversal Categories 277
TheHighestIdea,theGood,andGod . . . . 276
CHAPTEK VII.
PHYSICS. ....
GeneralCausesof theWorldof Phenomena 293
1. Matter. Its Derivation 293
Description of Matter 297
NotaPrimeval, CorporealSubstance . . . . 300
NottheProductof EnvisagementorOpinion . . 309
Butof Space 312
Difficultiesof thisTheory 312
2. Kelationof Sensible ObjectstotheIdea . . . .315
Immanenceof Thingsin Ideas 317
Noderivation of theWorldof Sense . . . .319
KeasonsagainsttheIdentificationofMatterwiththeUn-
....
limitedin theIdeas 320
LacunaintheSystematthispoint 332
Participation of thingsinIdeas 335
EeasonandNecessity; PhysicalandFinalCauses . 337
CONTENTS.
PAGE
3. TheWorld-Soul 341
Connectionof thisDoctrinewithPlato'swholeSystem 343
NatureoftheSoul ... 345
TheSoulandtheMathematical Principle 351
TheSoulasthe Causeof Motion 356
And of Knowledge 356
CHAPTER VIII.
PHYSICS (CONTINUED).
TheWorld-SystemanditsParts 361
HowfartheseDiscussions arevaluableandimportant . . 361
1. The Origin of the World. Question of its beginning in
Time 363
2. Formationof the Elements. TeleologicalDerivation. . 368
PhysicalDerivation . . . . . . . 371
Properties,Distribution, Admixture, Motion,Decomposi-
tion 375
3. TheWorld-System; the Heavenly Bodies; Time; the Cos-
micalYear 379
TheWorldastheBecome(Gewordene) God . . .386
CHAPTER IX.
PHYSICS (CONTINUED).
Man 388
Natureof theHumanSoul 389
ItsMythicalHistory 390
DogmaticElementinthismodeof Representation . . . 396
Immortality 397
Pre-existence 404
Recollection,Transmigration, andFutureRetribution. . . 406
Partsof theSoul 417
Freewill 419
RelationoftheSoultotheBody 421
Physiological Theories 423
PlantsandAnimals 432
Difference of Sex 433
Diseases 433
CONTENTS. xi
CHAPTER X.
PAGE
ETHICS 435
1. TheHighestGood .... 436^
WithdrawalfromtheWorldof Sense 438
RelativeValueascribedto it 441
2. Virtue 444
VirtueandHappiness 445
SocraticandPlatonicDoctrineof Virtue . . . 448
NaturalDisposition 449
CustomaryandPhilosophicVirtue 450
PluralityofVirtues; PrimaryVirtues. . . . 451
TheDistinctivePeculiaritiesofPlato'sEthics . . 454
CHAPTER XI.
ETHICS (CONTINUED).
The State ...'.-....461
Endand ProblemoftheState .... 461
Philosophyasthe ConditionofthetrueState 466
The ConstitutionoftheState 468
Importanceof PublicInstitutions; aristocratic character of the
PlatonicConstitution 469
SeparationandRelationofClasses 471
ThisConstitutionbaseduponPlato'swholeSystem . . . 473
SocialRegulations; Parentage 477
Education 478
Citizens'MannerofLife CommunityofGoods,Wives,andChildren 481
; ....
Significance of this Political Ideal from Plato's Pointof View.
Influencesthatledhimtoit . . '-***. 482
ItsaffinitywiththeModern State 490
DefectiveStates . . . 492
CHAPTER XII.
PLATO'S VIEWS ON RELIGION AND ART . . 494
1. Religion. TheReligionofthePhilosopher; Purificationof
thePopularFaith 495
Visible Gods 499
PopularReligion 500
General Result 503
CONTENTS.
Xll
PAGE
2. Art 505
TheBeautiful . 506
ArtisticInspiration 508
Imitation 509
SupervisionofArt 511
ParticularArts 513
Rhetoric 514
CHAPTEE XIII.
THE LATER FORM OF PLATONIC DOCTRINE. THE LAWS . 517
ThePlatonicDoctrineaccordingtoAristotle . . . . 517
TheLaws. PointofView 522
Philosophylessprominent 523
Religious Character 525
ImportanceofMathematics 527
Ethics 529
ParticularLegislation 531
Politics 533
Constitution 533
SocialRegulations 540
GeneralCharacteroftheLaws; DivergencesfromPlato'soriginal
PointofView theEvilWorld-Soul 543
Authenticity 548
CHAPTER XIV.
4^Mfe
THE OLDER ACADEMY. SPEUSIPPUS . . . 553
PlatonicSchool. ExternalHisto.ry ... 553
CharacterofitsPhilosophy .......... 565
Speusippus'TheoryofKnowledge . 566
FirstPrinciples; theGoodandtheSoul 568
Numbers 572
....
Magnitudes 575
FragmentsofhisPhysics 576
Ethics 578
.