Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- PART I THE PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND
- 1 From the beginnings to Socrates
- 2 Socrates and the Platonic Forms
- 3 The philosophy of Plato's maturity
- 4 Aristotle
- 5 Epicurus and the Stoics
- 6 The Middle Platonists and Philo of Alexandria
- 7 The philosophy of late antiquity
- PART II THE USE OF PHILOSOPHY IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
- PART III AUGUSTINE
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
6 - The Middle Platonists and Philo of Alexandria
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- PART I THE PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND
- 1 From the beginnings to Socrates
- 2 Socrates and the Platonic Forms
- 3 The philosophy of Plato's maturity
- 4 Aristotle
- 5 Epicurus and the Stoics
- 6 The Middle Platonists and Philo of Alexandria
- 7 The philosophy of late antiquity
- PART II THE USE OF PHILOSOPHY IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
- PART III AUGUSTINE
- Bibliography
- Index of Names
- Index of Subjects
Summary
The first century BC witnessed the emergence of a new movement in philosophy which, though it involved no really distinguished creative thinkers, was to prove an important influence on Christian thought. The philosophy of this period is sometimes called ‘syncretistic’, which implies a merging of previously distinct systems; but this suggestion is true only in part. Certainly there was no general merging of the older schools. Most of them retained a clearly marked individuality. Epicurean doctrines were expounded, for example, by the Latin poet Lucretius; scepticism was taught by Aenesidemus, and the sceptical, ‘academic’ brand of Platonism was expounded by Cicero; work on Aristotle continued, and a collected edition of his writings was produced by Andronicus of Rhodes, perhaps c. 65–40 BC. But as we have seen, there had already been contacts between Stoics, Platonists and Aristotelians. The new movement begun by Antiochus of Ascalon about 80 BC claimed to be a revival of genuine Platonism which rejected the sceptical tradition, and moreover claimed that there was substantial agreement in doctrine between Plato, Aristotle and Zeno (!), the founder of Stoicism. Clearly the conflict with scepticism was of prime importance. At the same time the Pythagorean number-theories which had attracted Plato and his immediate successors enjoyed a revival of interest.
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- Philosophy in Christian Antiquity , pp. 54 - 62Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994