life one special interest. This was as has been stated, what is 

 nature, what is $u<ns. The process of the differentiation of the 

 many facts of life into different compartments, a process, which 

 has enabled man to advance successfully into the territory of know- 

 ledge, a process, which until the time of Thales, had been but little 

 employed, was now brought more completely into use, and though, 

 as is to be expected, at first, too little differentiation was made and 

 too much attempted at once, yet the principle was at work, and 

 the advance had commenced. It is altogether too premature as 

 yet in our survey of the history to attempt to analyse out any 

 special characteristics of philosophy, but, as in its simplest and 

 least complex form, the essential features of a flower are depicted, 

 so it will be found that in this early philosophy, as it has been 

 called, there are exhibited the characteristics which are sought. 



The influence of the religious atmosphere, noted above, is to 

 be seen not only upon Thales but also upon all the early Greek 

 thinkers. The solutions which they advanced as to what con- 

 stitutes nature differed much. Various problems arose and these 

 were dealt with in different ways, but never could the influence 

 of the history, which lay back of these investigations, be entirely 

 annulled. Upon Heracleitus, the Pythagoreans, Parmenides, 

 Empedocles, in part, and Plato this influence is especially apparent. 

 The effect upon the Milesians, Empedocles and Anaxagoras and the 

 Atomists, Leucippus and Democritus, can also be seen, but here 

 the result was of a different nature. The first class of thinkers was 

 influenced more by the mythical and mystical in that religious 

 background. For them, the "needs of the heart" dominate over 

 the "needs of the intellect", so that every problem is for them 

 ultimately an ethical or religious one. The second class was in- 

 fluenced more by the conception of Moira or Fate, as held in the 

 religious background. To them the "needs of the intellect" were 

 paramount, and the men in this latter class were to become re- 

 presentatives of the special scientists of the day. 



A brief examination will indicate the nature of this religious 

 influence upon the Greek thinkers, and, first of all, we may con- 

 sider the mystical tendency or mystical tradition, as it has been 

 called. Interpreters have given many opinions concerning the 

 work of Heracleitus. By some, he has been considered as one of 



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