Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/359



1. now enter on the study of a philosophy which has attracted more notice and excited a deeper interest than any other within the whole compass of antiquity—I mean the philosophy of Plato. The best way to attain to a distinct understanding of the general scope and character of this, and indeed of every other philosophy, is by attending to the errors and oversights which it was designed to correct and supplement. Upheld by the ability of the Sophists, sensationalism was the dominant system, as it was the prevailing error, of the time, and accordingly it was against sensationalism and its conclusions that the philosophy of Plato was directed. Sensationalism is supported by the natural sentiments of mankind; it is the scheme which suggests itself most readily to the untutored understanding; it is a product of ordinary thinking. When left to ourselves, we are naturally of opinion that all our knowledge comes to us through the senses, that the senses are the main, indeed the sole means and instruments of cognition, and this opinion is nothing but the doctrine of sensationalism.