hilosopher, this merely to the historian and
antiquary. It is like the Bacon-Shakespeare question, which no lover
of drama, as such, need concern himself with at all. No doubt the
Plato-Socrates question is of interest to antiquarians, but after all,
fundamentally, it does not matter who is to have the credit of the
theory of Ideas, the only essential thing for us being to understand
that theory, and rightly to apprehend its value as a factor of the
truth. This book is primarily concerned with philosophical ideas,
their truth, meaning, and significance, and not with the rights and
wrongs of antiquarian disputes. It does indeed purport to {xii} be a
_history_, as well as a discussion of philosophic conceptions. But
this only means that it takes up philosophical ideas in their
historical sequence and connexions, and it does this only because the
conceptions of evolution in philosophy, of the onward march of thought
to a determined goal; of its gradual and steady rise to the supreme
heights of idealism, its subsequent decline, and ultimate collapse,
are not only profoundly impressive as historical phenomena, but are of
vital importance to a true conception of philosophy itself. Were it
not for this, Mr. Wells would, I think, be right, and I for one should
abandon treatment in historical order altogether. Lastly, I may remark
that the description of this book as a _critical_ history means that it
is, or attempts to be critical, not of dates, texts, readings, and the
like, but of philosophical conceptions.

I owe a debt of thanks to Mr. F. L. Woodward, M.A., late principal of
Mahinda College, Galle, Ceylon, for assisting me in the compilation of
the index of names, and in sundry other matters.

W.T.S.

_January_, 1920.

{xiii}

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE IDEA OF PHILOSOPHY IN GENERAL. THE
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY 1

II. THE IONICS. THALES. ANAXIMANDER.
ANAXIMENES. OTHER IONIC THINKERS 20

III. THE PYTHAGOREANS 31

IV. THE ELEATICS. XENOPHANES. PARMENIDES.
ZENO. CRITICAL REMARKS ON ELEATICISM 40

V. HERACLEITUS 72

VI. EMPEDOCLES 81

VII. THE ATOMISTS 86

VIII. ANAXAGORAS