the Ionics, through the semi-sensuous idealism of the
Eleatics, to the highest point of pure non-sensuous thought, the
idealism of Plato and Aristotle. It is important to keep in mind,
then, that the history of philosophy is not a mere chaotic hotch-potch
of opinions and theories, succeeding each other without connection or
order. It is a logical and historical evolution, each step in which is
determined by the last, and advances beyond the last towards a
definite goal. The goal, of course, is visible to us, but was not
visible to the early thinkers themselves.

Since man begins by looking outwards upon the external world and not
inwards upon his own self, this fact too determines the character of
the first period of Greek philosophy. It concerns itself solely with
nature, with the external world, and only with man as a part of
nature. It demands an explanation of nature. And this is the same as
saying that it is cosmological. The {24} problems of man, of life, of
human destiny, of ethics, are treated by it scantily, or not at all.
It is not till the time of the Sophists that the Greek spirit turns
inwards upon itself and begins to consider these problems, and with
the emergence of that point of view we have passed from the first to
the second period of Greek philosophy.

Because the Ionic philosophers were all materialists they are also
sometimes called Hylicists, from the Greek _hule_ which means matter.

Anaximander

The next philosopher of the Ionic school is Anaximander. He was an
exceedingly original and audacious thinker. He was probably born about
611 B.C. and died about 547. He was an inhabitant of Miletus, and is
said to have been a disciple of Thales. It will be seen, thus, that he
was a younger contemporary of Thales. He was born at the time that
Thales was flourishing, and was about a generation younger. He was the
first Greek to write a philosophic treatise, which however has been
unfortunately lost. He was eminent for his astronomical and
geographical knowledge, and in this connection was the first to
construct a map. Details of his life are not known.

Now Thales had made the ultimate principle of the universe, water.
Anaximander agrees with Thales that the ultimate principle of things
is material, but he does not name it water, does not in fact believe
that it is any particular kind of matter. It is rather a formless,
indefinite, and absolutely featureless matter in general. {25} Matter,
as we