Chapter 58 Philosophy in the Age of Greek Tragedy II

Philosophy in the Age of Greek Tragedy original sequence two This attempt to account for the history of ancient Greek philosophy is distinguished from similar works by its brevity.The method is to refer to only a few of his theories for each philosopher, that is, not to seek completeness deliberately.It is in the doctrines chosen, however, that the personality of the philosopher emerges most strongly.On the contrary, to enumerate as many as possible all the principles that have been handed down, as many comprehensive books usually do, will inevitably bury the individual things.In this way, the presentation becomes so tedious.For, of all the systems that have been refuted, it happens that only that which is individual attracts us, and that is that which can never be refuted.Three anecdotes can be used to form a picture of a man; I have tried to extract three anecdotes from each system and discard the rest.