Note 54 — Chapter II
Reading edition
“Before the fifth century, philosophy had been entirely physical or metaphysical.”—Sir A. Grant: Aristotle. (Essay already quoted.) The word italicized is surely too sweeping. (The thought is repeated with some qualification on page 67.) Cf. Diogenes Laertius: i. 18, and i. 13. Cicero: Tusc. Quæst., v. 4; Acad., i. 4, 15. Aristotle speaks with greater truth and moderation.—Metaph., i. 6. The distinction between Socrates and previous philosophers lies not so much in the fact that they were not ethical philosophers as that he was not a physical philosopher.