The Five Great Philosophies of Life

The Five Great Philosophies of Life

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5
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The Five Great Philosophies of Life by William DeWitt Hyde

Published:

1911

Pages:

169

Downloads:

12,699

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The Five Great Philosophies of Life

By

5
(1 Review)
Discusses the principles of the Epicurean pursuit of pleasure, genialbut ungenerous; the Stoic law of self-control, strenuous but forbidding;the Platonic plan of subordination, sublime but ascetic; theAristotelian sense of proportion, practical but uninspiring; and theChristian Spirit of Love, broadest and deepest of them all.

Book Excerpt

sistencies, convey very fairly the substance of his teaching, including both its excellences and its deep defects. The exalted esteem in which his doctrines were held, leading his disciples to commit them to memory as sacred and verbally inspired; the personal reverence for his character; and the extravagant expectations as to what his philosophy was to do for the world, together with a glimpse into the Epicurean idea of heaven, are well illustrated by the following sentences at the opening of the third book of Lucretius, addressed to Epicurus:--

"Thee, who first wast able amid such thick darkness to raise on high so bright a beacon and shed a light on the true interests of life, thee I follow, glory of the Greek race, and plant now my footsteps firmly fixed in thy imprinted marks, not so much from a desire to rival thee as that from the love I bear thee I yearn to imitate thee. Thou, father, art discoverer of things, thou furnishest us with fatherly precepts, and like as bees sip of all things in the