"Before man could really control his destiny as Plato taught, Aristotle  perceived that he needed far more knowledge and far more accurate knowledge than he possessed. Ans so Aristotle began that systematic collection of knowledge which nowadays we call Science. He sent out explorers to collect facts. He was the father of natural history. He was the founder of political science. His students at the Lyceum examined and compred the constituutions of 158 different states. ...

Here in the fourth century B.C. we find men who are practically 'modern thinkers'. The child-like, dream-like methods of primitive thought had given way to a disciplined and critical symbolism and imagery of the gods and god monsters, and all the taboos and awes and restrains that have hitherto encumbered thinking are here completely set aside. Free, exact, and systematic thinking has begun. The fresh and unencumbered mind of those newcomers out of the northern forests has thrust itself into the mysteries of the temple and let the daylight in."

p. 93/94 The Splendour of Greece "A Short History of the World" by H. G. Wells.