Abstract

A Sketch of Ancient Philosophy

This article focuses on the book "A Sketch of Ancient Philosophy," by Joseph B. Mayor. About half of all the instruction given last semester in philosophy in the German universities was strictly historical. Not only are lessons of reverence and curiosity thus impressed which make nil and mirari spirit impossible, but the danger which springs from the limited range of present interests, and of wasting time over problems already clearly wrought out by thinkers of antiquity, is averted. The story of happiness, first naively conceived as sensuous pleasure, and gradually widening to high intellectual enjoyments, and culminating in the sacrifice of personal to public or social interests-or in pure altruism ; or of virtue deepening from mere obedience to a few authoritative commands to spontaneous goodness.