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

phanos sounded the note Of merely negative
scepticisFn, which, for lack OF fruitful
scientific research, was to become moro
and more common In Greek thought. NO
man. he Avowed in o worse, knows
truly anything, and no man ever will.
Apparently q limit was soon set TO free
speech, even In Flea; and the Eiegtic school
later in the hands Of P~armenidee, zeno and
Mefissos Of Samos and their successors
turned, first TO deep metaphysics, and
then 70 verbal dialectics, 10 discussion on
being and not being, the im~posstbiity OF
motion and the frivolous problem Of Achilles
and the tortoise. Our author deems It
possible that thought took these lines be
cause Others were socially closed. Melissos,
q man Of action, who led a successful sally
10 capture the Athenian feet, was appar-
entity the most pronounced freethinker
OF the three, in that he said Of the gods:
There was no need to define them, since
there was no knowledge OF them Such
u~tterances could not be- carried far with
lmpunity, as Socrates was TO learn, In Any
Greek community; and from Meiissos and
Parmenides-our author considers the latter
the most philosophic mind Of all the Ele-
atfcs-there was a rapid descent to pro-
Io9GlOl1hA NCTOoAl6Lug POPuAaA NV bhC
proceeding on the old levels.
WI.
Although, compared with the early Mile
SLAMS, the elusive ,Pythagoras Is not 90
much a rationalistio as a t~heoeophio free
thinker. yet in his system he did r~ationalize
and discard mythology. There seems
to be no doubt that his philosophy, like hat
Of his Ionian predecessors. started from
Oriental ~preoedents. According to ira
dition he was q pupil Of a Syrian, and be-
fore settling At Kroton. in Italy. he travelled
In Egypt, and also had intercourse with
the Ghaldean magi Parts Of the Pythag-
orean code Of life point to an Eastern de-
rivation. As regards, however, the mystic
doctrine that numbers are, as IL were, the
moving principle In the c~osmoe-another
thesis not unlikely to arise In the Baby
lonian world, whence came the whole sys-
tenn Of numbers for tho later ancient-
u author can but pronounce 1t "a de-
velopment Of thought in uoeuo. and look
further for the source Of Pythagorean
influence In the moral IN social code Of
the movement, in its science, In its pam
theism, its contradictory dualism and
perhaps In its doctrine Of transmigration
Of souls" On the side Of natural science,
indeed. its absurdities point to the fatal
lack Of observation which 30 soon stopped
progress in Greek physics and biology.
On the other hand. in the fields OF astronomy,
mathematics and the science OF sound the
PythaRorean school seems to have done
rood scientific work, being praised by
Aristotle for special service In that way.
It is recorded that Philolaos, the successor
- D-AA.o-aa khA ANak 80 kAanh NN1UlU
about 900 B. c. the doctrine Of the motion
OF the earth, which, however, as we have
seen, would also seem TO ave been taught
previously by AnaximAndros. E~cphantos
Of Syracuse is also credited with asserting
the revolution Of the earth on its axis. He,
too, is grouped with the Pythagoreans,
though he appears to hsye had . pantheism
Of his own.
AT last the critical spirit found utterance
in the great Penclean period, at Athens
itself, though first by way OF importation
from Ionia Anaxagoras OF Klazomenai
(ASo-47s B. c. is the first free thinker histod-
calIy known to have been legally prose-
cuted and condemned for bis free thought
PhiIolaos had been prosecuted, blu not
convicted, at Flea. II was in the Athens Of
Pericles and in spite OF Pcricles's protection
that the attack was made. Coming Of the
Ionian line Of thinkers, A~naxagoras held
firmly by the scientific view OF the cosmos
and thought that the sum-, instead OF being
animated and q deity, as the Athenians
believed, was "a red hot mass, many times
larger than the Peloponneeus. and the moon
a fiery Tor earthly solid body, having In it
plains, and mountains. and valleys-this,
while the philosopher asserted that infinite
mind was the source and introduoer Of all
the motion in the infinite universe; infinite
in extent and infinitely divisible. This
materialistic doctrine as to the heavenly
bodies was ~propounded, as Socrates tells
in his defence, in books that, in his day,
any one could buy for q drachma apiece;
and Anaxagoras further taught, like Theag-
enes, that the mythical p~ersonages Of the
poets were mere distractions, invested
with name and gender. It is probable
enough that, even in pious Athens, where
he taught in peace for many years, the
Ionian philosopher might also have died
in peace, but for his intimacy with the
most renowned OF his pupils. 1t occurred
ultimately to the enemies Of Pericles to
strike at him through his guide, philosopher
and friend. Prosecuted on the charge that
he disbelieved in religion, and held theories
OF his own about things on high, he was
saved by Pericles from the death punish
ment, but according to one account was
fined Ave talents, and certainly wa exiled,
or chose to leave the intolerant city.
While Athens was prosecuting Ansxa-
goras, the colonial city Of Abdera in Thrace,
founded by ~Ionians, had, like others, car
ried on the great impulse Of Ionian phil
osophy and had produced in the fifth CEN
fury some Of the great thinkers Of the
human race. Concerning the greatest OF
these, Democritos, and the next in impor-
lance, P~rotagoras, We have no SURE dates,
but they seem to have -hourished from
about $50 to 40 B. G. The second, though
apparently later, seems to have been pro-
foundly influenced by the first, who, in
deed, has influenced all scientific philosophy
down to our OWE day. Logically oontinu-
ing the non-theistic line Of thought, Democ-
ritos either struck out or newly assimi-
lated and developed one OF the most fruit
full Of all scientific principles, the atomic
theory. He stands forth as one OF the most
original minds in the whole history OF