however, that Parmenides actually held the doctrine of the
earth's sphericity. Another glimpse of his astronomical doctrines
is furnished us by a fragment which tells us that he conceived
the morning and the evening stars to be the same, a doctrine
which, as we have seen, was ascribed also to Pythagoras. Indeed,
we may repeat that it is quite impossible to distinguish between
the astronomical doctrines of these two philosophers.
The poem of Parmenides in which the cosmogonic speculations occur
treats also of the origin of man. The author seems to have had a
clear conception that intelligence depends on bodily organism,
and that the more elaborately developed the organism the higher
the intelligence. But in the interpretation of this thought we
are hampered by the characteristic vagueness of expression, which
may best be evidenced by putting before the reader two English
translations of the same stanza. Here is Ritter's rendering, as
made into English by his translator, Morrison:
"For exactly as each has the state of his limbs many-jointed,
So invariably stands it with men in their mind and their
reason; For the system of limbs is that which thinketh in
mankind Alike in all and in each: for thought is the
fulness."[10]
The same stanza is given thus by George Henry Lewes:
"Such as to each man is the nature of his many-jointed limbs,
Such also is the intelligence of each man; for it is The nature
of limbs (organization) which thinketh in men, Both in one and
in all; for the highest degree of organization gives the
highest degree of thought."[11]
Here it will be observed that there is virtual agreement between
the translators except as to the last clause, but that clause is
most essential. The Greek phrase is
Ritter, it will be observed, renders this, "for thought is the
fulness." Lewes paraphrases it, "for the highest degree of
organization gives the highest degree of thought." The difference
is intentional, since Lewes himself criticises the translation of
Ritter. Ritter's translation is certainly the more literal, but
the fact that such diversity is possible suggests one of the
chief elements of uncertainty that hamper our interpretation of
the thought of antiquity. Unfortunately, the mind of the
commentator has usually been directed towards such subtleties,
rather than towards the expression of precise knowledge. Hence it
is that the philosophers of Greece are usually thought of as mere
dreamers, and that their true status as scientific discoverers is
so often overlooked. With these intangibilities we have no
present concern beyond this bare mention; for us it suffices to
gain as clear an idea as we may of the really scientific
conceptions of these thinkers, leaving the subtleties of their
deductive reasoning for the most part untouched.
EMPEDOCLES
The latest of the important pre-Socratic philosophers of the
Italic school was Empedocles, who was born about 494 B.C. and
lived to the age of sixty. These dates make Empedocles strictly
contemporary with Anaxagoras, a fact which we shall do well to
bear in mind when we come to consider the latter's philosophy in
the succeeding chapter. Like Pythagoras, Empedocles is an
imposing figure. Indeed, there is much of similarity between the
personalities, as between the doctrines, of the two men.
Empedocles, like Pythagoras, was a physician; like him also he
was the founder of a cult. As statesman, prophet, physicist,
physician, reformer, and poet he showed a versatility that,
coupled with profundity, marks the highest genius. In point of
versatility we shall perhaps hardly find his equal at a later
day--unless, indeed, an exception be made of Eratosthenes. The
myths that have grown about the name of Empedocles show that he
was a remarkable personality. He is said to have been an
awe-inspiring figure, clothing himself in Oriental splendor and
moving among mankind as a superior being. Tradition has it that
he threw himself into the crater of a volcano that his otherwise
unexplained disappearance might lead his disciples to believe
that he had been miraculously translated; but tradition goes on
to say that one of the brazen slippers of the philosopher was
thrown up by the volcano, thus revealing his subterfuge. Another
tradition of far more credible aspect asserts that Empedocles
retreated from Italy, returning to the home of his fathers in
Peloponnesus to die there obscurely. It seems odd that the facts
regarding the death of so great a man, at so comparatively late a
period, should be obscure; but this, perhaps, is in keeping with
the personality of the man himself. His disciples would hesitate
to ascribe a merely natural death to so inspired a prophet.
Empedocles appears to have been at once an observer and a
dreamer. He is credited with noting that the pressure of air will
sustain the weight of water in an inverted tube; with divining,
without the possibility of proof, that light has actual motion in
space; and with asserting that centrifugal motion must keep the
heavens from falling. He is credited with a great sanitary feat
in the draining of a marsh, and his knowledge of medicine was
held to be supernatural. Fortunately, some fragments of the
writings of Empedocles have come down to us, enabling us to judge
at first hand as to part of his doctrines; while still more is
known through the references made to him by Plato, Aristotle, and
<< previous page | next page >>
Jump to page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 |
