Note 1 — Chapter I · THE INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL STATE OF GREECE AT THE CLOSE OF THE FOURTH CENTURY.

A. Causes producing the post-Aristotelian philosophy. The circumstances which have been briefly sketched in the preceding chapter are of the greatest importance in their bearing on the character of the post-Aristotelian philosophy. Greek philosophy, like Greek art, is the offspring of Greek political independence. In the whirl of public life every one is thrown on himself and his own resources. Thereby, and by the emulation begotten of unlimited competition for all the good things of life, the Greek had learned to make full use of his intellect. Consciousness of his dignity—which a Greek associated far more closely than we do with the privilege of citizenship—and independence of the necessity of struggling for daily food, had taught him independence of mind, and enabled him to devote himself to the pursuit of knowledge without any ulterior aim.1