THE GREEK ATTITUDE 



Anaxagoras is generally given credit as the founder 

 of dualistic philosophy, yet, in the opinion of Plato 

 and Aristotle, he fell far short of accomplishing his 

 purpose. Plato, in a famous passage in the Phaedo^ 

 makes Socrates sa}^: "I rejoiced to think that I had 

 found in Anaxagoras a teacher of the causes of ex- 

 istence such as I had desired, and I imagined that he 

 would tell me first whether the earth is flat or round; 

 and whichever was true, he would proceed to explain 

 the cause and necessity of this being so, and then he 

 would teach me the nature of the best and show that 

 this was best. . . . What expectations I had formed, 

 and how grievously was I disappointed I As I pro- 

 ceeded, I found my philosopher altogether forsaking 

 mind or any other principle of order, but having re- 

 course to air, and aether, and water, and other eccen- 

 tricities." Aristotle's opinion is somewhat conflicting. 

 He says that Anaxagoras seemed like a sober man, in 

 contrast to those who before spoke at random, be- 

 cause he argued that since mind exists in animals, 

 so it also exists in nature as the cause of the universe.* 

 But he says elsewhere : "Anaxagoras uses reason as a 

 deus ex macMna for the making of the world, and 

 when he is at a loss to tell for what cause something 

 necessarily is, then he drags reason in, but in all other 

 cases ascribes events to anything rather than to rea- 

 son."' 



''' Jowett's translation, Phaedo, 97c and 98c. 

 8 Meta., i. 3 ; 984 b. 

 ° Meta., i, 4; 985 a 18. 



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