THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE 275 



At the outset we take a long scope in our survey 

 and present to ourselves the epoch when philosophy 

 was still consciously, and not simply by implica 

 tion, human, when reflective thought had not devel 

 oped its own technique of method, and was in no 

 danger of being caught in its own machinery the 

 time of Socrates. What does the assertion of 

 Socrates that an unexamined life is not one fit to 

 be led by man; what does his injunction &quot; Know 

 thyself &quot; mean ? It means that the corporate 

 motives and guarantees of conduct are breaking 

 down. We have got away from the time when the 

 individual could both regulate and justify his 

 course of life by reference to the ideals incarnate 

 in the habits of the community of which he is a 

 member. The time of direct and therefore uncon 

 scious union with corporate life, finding therein 

 stimuli, codes, and values, has departed, The de 

 velopment of industry and commerce, of war and 

 politics, has brought face to face communities with 

 different aims and diverse habits ; the development 

 of myth and animism into crude but genuine scien 

 tific observation and imagination has transformed 

 the physical widening of the horizon, brought 

 about by commerce and intercourse, into an in 

 tellectual and moral expansion. The old supports 

 fail precisely at the time when they are most needed 

 before a widening and more complex scene of 

 action. Where, then, shall the agent of action 



