10S PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



ing that of the Stoics, inevitably contributed indirectly to the develop- 

 ment of the conception of Nature as of a power more or less personally 

 conceived but devoid of definite anthropomorphic attributes. This 

 view of Nature was henceforth to prevail in ever-widening circles. 



We now turn to consider </>i'o-is regarded as the end of the process 

 (III.). As has already been said the number and variety of cases which 

 fall under this head are very great compared with the foregoing. In 

 most respects there is little occasion for special remark in this connex- 

 ion, since the usage of the pre-Socratic period coincides in the main 

 with that of later times. Yet there are implications involved in 

 this same usage which were drawn out and made explicit only in the 

 Socratic age. Most interesting of all, perhaps, is the complete inver- 

 sion of the conclusions of homely common sense and common usage in- 

 troduced by the doctrine of Aristotle. Thus, e. g., he says : 12 ° " From 

 what has been said, then, it is plain that <£iW, in the primary and 

 strict sense, is the substantial entity (ova-La = </>t'o-is III.) of things which 

 have in themselves, as such, a source of movement ; for the matter is 

 called t/a'o-i? (II. A) by reason of having a capacity to take this on, and 

 the processes of becoming and growing (4>vo-is I.), by reason of being 

 derived from it." In the circular process of the Socratic the end has 

 become the beginning ; that which the pre-Socratic called the reality 

 has become a bare potentiality. Neither premise nor conclusion of 

 this view would have been acceptable or even intelligible to the pre- 

 Socratic, although, with one exception, the conceptions upon which the 

 new view rests were common property. Yet that one exception is the 

 corner-stone of Socratic philosophy. 



When the pre-Socratic asked what a thing was, the answer he desired, 

 if given with ideal completeness, would have presented its chemical 

 formula. Now a formula is, I suppose, in origin and intention, a pre- 

 scription. In the pre-Socratic schools, closely associated as they were 

 with the schools of medicine, this procedure was natural : furthermore 

 it was adequate, since the " things " they sought to define were ma- 

 terial. But, as we have already seen, the Nature which the philosopher 

 studied became at the end of the pre-Socratic period so charged with 

 spiritual meaning, and in particular in the kingdom of vop-os, the son 

 of <£iVis, there was so much, non-material in character, which called 

 for analysis, that a method of definition suited to the new objects of 

 study became an urgent necessity. If the old method sought a defini- 



personality with which the Oeos of Xenophanes is invested, especially as the negation 

 of the popular view of the gods is so pronounced. What remains after the denials, 

 while containing elements of personality, appears shadowy. 

 120 Met. 1015" 13 foil., transl. of Ross, modified. 



