THE VOCATION OF PHILOSOPHY 53 



the triumph of the clearness of consciousness 

 and of a sovereign will over the instincts. 



From the age of Socrates on, philosophy 

 has come to apprehend its scientific mission in 

 a practical sense — that of being an art to guide 

 the spirit and mould the life. It became in 

 consequence a living power, which developed 

 first in the culture of the Greeks, and latterly 

 in the culture of mankind. 



In Plato's teaching the two tendencies of 

 philosophy, the theoretical and the practical, 

 enter into a combination which in its complete- 

 ness has remained the pattern for all succeed- 

 ing time. If we wish to see ancient philosophy 

 at work in its twofold calling, we must view it 

 at its culminating point, the point which it 

 reached in the Academy founded and directed 

 by Plato. The Academy united in a common 

 life a wide circle of disciples and learners and 

 a narrower circle of investigators and teachers, 

 with Plato at their head. The aim of the asso- 

 ciation was twofold, the organization of 

 knowledge and the mastery of the forms of 

 life through knowledge — the knowledge of 

 the "Ideas." 



