Plato and Christianity - Three Lectures #266660

It is very difficult to say what constitutes the peculiar genius of any race or nation, but in the case of the Ancient Greeks this is easier than in most. We may perhaps best summarise their predominant characteristic and their great gift to the world in the phrase, "Intellectual passion." Both terms are necessary. To most of us the intellect and the search for truth appear lacking in human warmth ; men contrast reason with intuition on one side, and with feeling on the other. Of course, there is a ground for this contrast, but in the great Greeks feeling and intellect are united with astonishing closeness.