The Secret Teachings of All Ages

...conceived the soul to be atomic in structure and subject to dissolving along with the body. He believed the mind was composed of spiritual atoms. Aristotle suggests that Democritus derived his atomic theory from the Pythagorean doctrine of the Monad The Monad represents the number one, or the indivisible source of all things.. Protagoras and Anaxarchus are also included among the Eleatics.

Socrates (469–399 B.C.), the founder of the Socratic school, was fundamentally a Skeptic In this context, someone who doubts established dogmas and seeks truth through questioning rather than asserting fixed doctrines.. He did not force his opinions on others; instead, through the medium of questioning, he caused each person to give expression to their own philosophy. According to Plutarch, Socrates believed every place was appropriate for teaching, seeing the whole world as a school of virtue. He held that the soul existed before the body and, prior to being immersed in it, was endowed with all knowledge. He taught that when the soul entered a physical form, it became stunned or "stupefied," but that through discussion about sensible objects Physical objects that can be perceived by the five senses., it could be reawakened to recover its original knowledge. His attempts to stimulate the power of the soul through irony and inductive reasoning A method of logic that moves from specific observations to broader generalizations. were based on these ideas. It has been said of Socrates that the sole subject of his philosophy was humanity. He himself declared philosophy to be the path to true happiness and stated its purpose was twofold: (1) to contemplate God, and (2) to detach the soul from physical sensations.

He conceived the principles of all things to be three in number: God, matter, and ideas. Of God, he said: "What He is, I do not know; what He is not, I do know." He defined matter as the subject of birth and decay, and "idea" as an incorruptible substance—the very intellect of God. He considered wisdom to be the sum of all virtues. Among the prominent members of the Socratic school were Xenophon, Aeschines, Crito, Simon, Glauco, Simmias, and Cebes. Professor Zeller, a great authority on ancient philosophies, recently declared that the writings of Xenophon regarding Socrates are forgeries. When The Clouds by Aristophanes—a comedy written to ridicule Socrates' theories—was first performed, the great Skeptic attended the play himself. During the performance, which mocked him by showing him sitting in a basket high in the air "studying the sun," Socrates calmly stood up in his seat. He did this to allow the Athenian spectators to better compare his own plain features with the distorted mask worn by the actor playing him.

The Elean school was founded by Phaedo of Elis, a youth from a noble family who was ransomed from slavery at the request of Socrates and became his devoted disciple. Plato admired Phaedo’s intellect so much that he named one of his most famous dialogues The Phaedo. Phaedo was succeeded in his school by Plisthenes, who was followed by Menedemus. Little is known of the doctrines of the Elean school. It is assumed that Menedemus was inclined toward the teachings of Stilpo and the Megarian school. When Menedemus was asked for his opinions, he replied that he was "free," suggesting that most men were enslaved to their own opinions. Menedemus apparently had a somewhat combative temperament and often returned from his lectures physically bruised. His most famous logical proposition is stated this way: "That which is not the same is different from that with which it is not the same." Once this point was admitted, Menedemus continued: "To benefit is not the same as 'the good'; therefore, 'the good' does not benefit." After the time of Menedemus, the Elean school became known as the Eretrian school. Its members denounced all negative statements and all complex, obscure theories, declaring that only simple, positive doctrines could be true.

The Megarian school was founded by Euclid of Megara (not the famous mathematician), a great