favored of the Greeks were not free
from pantheistic notions.

The nature of the soul occupied much of the attention of the Greeks.
They began by giving material characteristics to the mind. They soon
separated it in concept from material nature and placed it as a part of
God himself, who existed apart from material form. The soul has a past
life, a present, and a future, as a final outcome of philosophical
speculations. The attributes of the soul were confused with the
attributes of the Supreme Being. These conceptions of the Divine Being
and of the soul border on the Hindu philosophy.

Perhaps the subject which caused the most discussion was the attempt to
determine a criterion of truth. Soon after the time when they broke
away from the ancient religious faith, the thinkers of Greece began to
doubt the ability of the mind to ascertain absolute truth. This arose
out of the imperfections of knowledge obtained through the senses.
Sense perception {227} was held in much doubt. The world is full of
delusions. Man thinks he sees when he does not. The rainbow is but an
illusion when we attempt to analyze it. The eye deceives, the ear
hears what does not exist; even touch and taste frequently deceive us.
What, then, can be relied upon as accurate in determining knowledge?
To this the Greek mind answers, "Nothing"; it reaches no definite
conclusion, and this is the cardinal weakness of the philosophy.
Indeed, the great weakness of the entire age of philosophy was want of
data. It was a time of intense activity of the mind, but the lack of
data led to much worthless speculation. The systematic method of
scientific observation had not yet been discovered.

But how could this philosophical speculation affect civilization? It
determined the views of life entertained by the Greeks, and human
progress depended upon this. The progress of the world depends upon
the attitude of the human mind toward nature, toward man and his life.
The study of philosophy developed the mental capacity of man, gave him
power to cope with nature, and enhanced his possibility of right
living. More than this, it taught man to rely upon himself in
explaining the origin and growth of the universe and the development of
human life. Though these points were gained only by the few and soon
lost sight of by all, yet they were revived in after years, and placed
man upon the right basis for improvement.

The quickening impulse of philosophy ha