SOURCE: H. F. Cherniss, "The Characteristics and Effects of Presocratic Philosophy," in Studies in Presocratic Philosophy, Vol. I, edited by David J. Furley and R. E. Allen, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970, pp. 1-28.

In the following excerpt from a lecture originally delivered in 1948, Cherniss surveys the Presocratic philosophers and their beliefs while questioning Aristotle's interpretations of some of their theories. Additionally, Cherniss evaluates the contributions of these philosophers to later thinking and writing.

It is only fair for you to be forewarned that I do not intend to present you with an exhaustive doxography, a list of the opinions and systems of all the important philosophers before Socrates, or to offer you a formula to which the meaning of all Presocratic philosophy can be reduced. My purpose is merely to suggest certain salient characteristics which, I believe, can help one to find one's way through the extant remains of...