The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23
VIII

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VIII.
Socrates was fundamentally and pract.
cally a ireethinker in that in all things he
thought for himself, turning definitely
away from the old ideal OF mere trans
mitted authority in morals. He was the
first and chief agnostic. Starting in all
inquiries from a position OF professed igno-
rance. he at least r~epudisted all dogmatics.
Being, however. preoocupied with public
life and conduct. he did not carry his critical
thinking far beyond that sphere
He hoped to rationalize conduct, without
seeking first to rationslixe creed Our
author submits that, II we nay take the
trial and execution Of Socrates for bias
pbemy" and -~corrupting the minds Of the
Young as accurately rejecting the state
OF thought at the time in the Athenian COM
munitv. there must rave then prevailed
in Athens nearly AZ much hypocrisy in re-
lirious matters as exists In the England
OF to-day. No doubt Socrates was liable
to the death penalty from the traditionslly
orthodox Greek point Of view, having
practically turned aside from the old civic
creed and ideals. Most educated Athen-
ians. however, had in some degree done
the same. Euripides had been 80 frequently
critical Of the old theology and mythology
in his plays that he, too, could easily have
been indicted. A~ristophanes would have
Teen glad TO see him prosecuted. Yet the
psychology Of Aristophanes himself, Who
freely ridiouted and blasphemed the gods
in his own. comedies, while reviling all men
who did not profess to believe in them, is
hardly Ineligible save | the light OF parts
Of the English history Of own time.
when unbelieving indi~lferentists on the
conservative side have been seen ready to
ioin in turning the law against a freethinker
IBradlauRhl for purely party ends In
the case Of Socrates, no doubt, not only
marty malice but the individual dislikes he
Mad 40 industriously provoked must have
counted for much in securing b small
majority Of the dikastery that pronounced
him guilty; and his " clear preference
for death over any sort Of compromise did
the rest.
or Plato the opinion Ii here expressed
that, while nobody contests the perfection
of his literary craftsmanship, he enjoys a
repute above his deserts as a thinker. In
the history OF free thou ght he figures as a
man Of genius, formed by Socrates, and
rejecting his limitations, developing the
Socratic dialectic on the n hand, and
finally emphasizing the Socratic dogmatism
on matters outside the sphere OF conduct
TO the point OF utter bigotrY. II the Athen-
ians are TO be condemned for putting Soc
rates to- death, il must not be forgotten
that the spirit, II not the letter, OF the laws
drawn up by Plato in his old age fully
justified them" II is pointed out that this
code, could It ever a been put in force,
would have wrou ght the death OF every
honest freethinker, as we'll as most Of the
ignorant believers, within it's range Of
operation. Alone among the great serious
writer's Of Greece does Plato implioate
Greek thought in the gospel OF intolerance
passed on TO modern Europe from antiquity.
Il is recorded Of him hat he wishe to burn
all the writings Of Democritos that he could
collect, and was dissuaded only on the score
OF the number Of the copies.
Prof. Balm has suggested that not only
Plato but subsequently Aristotle was so
cowed by the execution OF Socrates as TO
suppress his personal views on the higher
questions Of philosophy. It will hardly
be disputed that the prescription of intoler-
ance in the LdWs classes Plato decisively on
JuS oloo VI ldunSlCAchh1 anu ONVh III iHH'
with the most sinister figures on that side,
since his earlier writing in the Republic
shows that he would be willing TO punish
men for rejecting what he knew TO Re IN
true. He seems to rave practised -the will
TO believe" till he grew to be a bigot on the
plane Of the most ignorant Of orthodox
Athenians, and after all hat science had
done to enlighten men with regard to that
natural order the misconoeiving Of which
had been the foundation OF their cosmo-
gonical creed he 'inveiGhed furiously in his
old age against the impiety Of those who
dared to doubt that the sun and moon and
stars were deities, as every nurse taught
her charges. Our author holds that in the
face OF such teaching as this it nay we'll
be said that Greek philosophy made in
oomparably greater advances in the earlier
polemic period lof the ~Ioniansl than after
its friendly return to the poetry OF Homer
and Hesiod'-that IL, to q polytheistio