Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Greek Thinkers, Vol. 3: A History of Ancient Philosophy
1. The learned Spanish Jesuit, Jose d'Acosta, closes his account of a certain belief held by the Indians of Peru, with the remark that it approximates "in some measure" to the Platonic doctrine of ideas. The belief to which he refers has also been met with among the Indians of North America; here, again, the Abbe Laffiteau detected points of agreement with Plato. The inhabitants of the Samoan Islands, and lastly, the Finns, present us with additional examples of the same mode of thought, the essence of which may be stated as follows: The occurrence in nature of numberless groups of similar objects, particularly animal and vegetable species, requires an explanation; this is afforded by the assumption of a primary entity or archetype, whose relation to the corresponding objects is variously conceived. Sometimes it appears as a kind of elder and bigger brother; sometimes it is a pattern, residing in the world of spirit; or, again, it may be a god or a genius dwelling on some distant star, to whose influence particular objects owe their origin and their continuance.
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