30 HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE 



The origin of democratic institutions in Greece is no doubt 

 to be correlated with the type of mind above described. The 

 Oriental had acquiesced in a subjection of mind and body to 

 political and religious tradition. Democracy in any sense 

 was unknown. Corporate and class spirit was characteristic 

 of ancient oriental society. The Greeks developed the idea 

 of the individual and his intellectual worth and so gave scope 

 to genius. They enthroned the citizen above the king, as 

 well as natural law above the gods. The wonder is not that 

 in the end they failed to conquer the world but that they 

 wrought so well. Man rather than nature was, however, 

 their culminating concern. "Know thyself" is a phrase 

 significant as a clue to an underlying philosophy. In this 

 respect our present age may well profit by the Greek spirit, 

 which at its best was too well balanced to subordinate human 

 aspiration to the materialities of existence. 



We are more particularly concerned with the place of 

 science among this many-sided race. But this cannot be 

 discussed aside from their philosophy and their religion. In 

 the religion of Greece is seen reflected the Greek mind with 

 its joy in living. In the main, the gods smiled on men and 

 stood ready to help them. There was no established church 

 or priesthood, tending towards the crystallization of current 

 doctrines into dogmatic beliefs. As time went on, the idea of 

 a single God, the supreme and righteous Zeus, was developed 

 among the more advanced thinkers. As with the Hebrews, 

 this conception arose by gradual stages, finding its culmina- 

 tion in Plato's reconstruction of religion and in the mysticism 

 that was taken over from Platonic thought by the early 

 Christian theologians. In general, Hellenic monotheism 

 was intellectual rather than ethical. It, therefore, tended to 

 supply the deficiencies in the Hebrew system when the 

 latter was taken over by Christianity. 17 



Philosophy, distinct from religion in name as well as in 



17 Dickinson, G. Lowes, "The Greek View of Life." Also: Farnell, L. R., 

 "The Higher Aspects of Greek Religion." 



