Page:Early Greek philosophy by John Burnet, 3rd edition, 1920.djvu/377



account which I have given (pp. 10 sqq.) of the meaning of the term ϕύσις in early Greek philosophy has been criticised by Professor W. A. Heidel in a paper entitled Περὶ ϕύσεως, A Study of the Conception of Nature among the Pre-Socratics. It is an exceedingly valuable paper, and I cannot find that it contains anything inconsistent with my view, though the writer apparently thinks it does. The only point at issue, so far as I can see, is that Professor Heidel assumes that the original meaning of ϕύσις is "growth," which seems to me extremely doubtful. No doubt the verb ϕύομαι (i.e. ϕυίομαι) with a long vowel means "I grow," but the simple root ϕυ is the equivalent of the Latin fu and the English be, and need not necessarily have this derivative meaning.

There is an interesting article in support of my view by Professor Lovejoy in the Philosophical Review, vol. xviii. pp. 369 sqq., and Mr. Beardslee has recently examined the use of the word ϕύσις in Greek writers of the fifth century B.C. in a Ph.D. dissertation (University of Chicago Press, 1918). Here again, while acknowledging the value of the work, I can only say that I do not find its results inconsistent with the account I have given. I have never questioned the obvious fact that the word ϕύσις had a history, and developed meanings quite different from that which it may have had for an Ionian.

I should almost be willing to rest the case for this on the fragment of Euripides quoted on p. 10, where the significant epithet ἀθάνατος καὶ ἀγήρως is given to ϕύσις, but it may be well to collect here some of the passages on which I also rely.

1. Plato, Laws 891 c 1, κινδυνεύει γὰρ ὁ λέγων ταῦτα πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν καὶ ἀέρα πρῶτα ἡγεῖσθαι τῶν πάντων εἶναι, καὶ τὴν φύσιν ὀνομάζειν ταῦτα αὐτά. 892 c 2, φύσιν βούλονται λέγειν γένεσιν τὴν περὶ τὰ πρῶτα· εἰ δὲ φανήσεται ψυχὴ πρῶτον, οὐ πῦρ οὐδὲ ἀήρ, ψυχὴ δ᾽ ἐν πρώτοις γεγενημένη, σχεδὸν ὀρθότατα λέγοιτ᾽ ἂν εἶναι διαφερόντως φύσει.