After Aristotle

Abstract

As we have seen, Aristotle’s ethical teaching, though it claimed to be practical, is strikingly ‘academic’ compared with that of Socrates. The tradition of such teaching continued in the Academy and the Lyceum, and these must not be entirely ignored because we know so little of them. It is quite likely that some of the ideas later adopted by the Stoics, for instance, were first worked out in them.⁴² However, the main interest of this period lies in the growth of philosophies of a different kind, specially adapted to equip men for life in a rapidly changing world; for it was at this time that the Greek political system collapsed, and the conquests of Alexander destroyed the sovereignty of the city-states and made them insignificant parts of much vaster units. The question as to how a man ought to live assumed a new significance, and recipes of many kinds were produced to give the answer.⁴³ Athens, however, remained the centre even for these new philosophies, and most of them claimed to be inspired by the spirit of Socrates — a fact which indicates not only the breadth of his views but also how variously they were understood.