DOCSLIB.ORG

Introduction: Philo's Method and Basic Concerns

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Introduction: Philo's Method and Basic Concerns CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: PHILO'S METHOD AND BASIC CONCERNS A. BRIEF SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE In spite of the immense amount of labor that has been devoted to the study of Philo during the past one hundred years, there is today no generally accepted interpretation of his writings. Admit­ tedly, scholars have come to agree on many of the details of his thinking, but in reference to his method and basic concerns there is still little accord. On the one hand, Wolfson argues that Philo was "a philosopher in the grand manner," 1 who demonstrated his great intellectual ability both in his critical evaluation of the works of other philos­ ophers and in his striking out on a new path of his own. Philo demonstrates his originality in every area of his philosophical inquiry, and has left us with a system of philosophy "which is consistent, coherent, and free from contradictions, all of it being based on certain fundamental principles." 2 Indeed, in spite of the fact that Philo left behind him no official group of disciples, "his teachings became the dominant influence in European philosophy for well-nigh seventeen centuries." 3 Wolfson maintains further that all the really significant roots of Philo's thinking are Jewish, and whatever Hellenistic influence we find in his writings is "in language only; not in religious belief or cult." 4 At the other extreme from Wolfson stand Pascher and Goode­ nough. Drawing at many points on the work of Pascher, 5 Goodenough sees Philo as one who is little interested in the technical problems of philosophy as such. Philo is conversant with much of contem­ porary philosophy and, in particular, draws heavily on Platonism 1 Harry A. Wolfson.Philo. Foundations ofPhilosophy in Judaism, Christian- ity, and Islam (1947), I, 114. 2 Wolfson, I, 114-15. 3 Wolfson, I, 115. 4 Wolfson, I, 13. 6 Cf. especially Joseph Pascher, H BAI:IAIKN OdOl: Der Konigsweg zu Wiedergeburt und Vergottung bei Philon van Alexandreia (1931). ALGHJ, III I 2 INTRODUCTION: PHILO'S METHOD AND BASIC CONCERNS and Neo-Pythagoreanism. But his fundamental orientation is religious rather than philosophical, his knowledge of philosophy serving mainly to illuminate and support his religious under­ standing. According to Goodenough, Philo is deeply indebted to the Greek mystery religions of his day and was particularly influenced by Orphism, the cult of Isis and Osiris, and by the dualism of Iran.1 There is in his writings "an elaborate transformation of Judaism into a mystic philosophy," whose secret teachings were embodied in the writings of the great Moses and whose cultic hierophants were Moses and the High Priest. 2 But this transformation is not to be understood as only a "veneer" or "one of words only"; it resulted in "a Judaism so thoroughly paganized that its objectives were those of Hellenistic mysteries." 3 Indeed, the radical cleft between the material and immaterial worlds-a thoroughly non­ Jewish motif-is the basic presupposition of the Philonic Mystery, and thus it is understandable that Philo's most significant departure from normative Judaism "lies in the fact that he took to his heart the pagan idea of salvation; that is, that the spirit be released from the flesh in order to return to its spiritual source in God." 4 Goodenough frequently asserts, however, that Philo never thought of himself as breaking away from the religion of his fathers with its central emphasis on the Torah. In his own mind he was from first to last a loyal Jew who presented to his contemporaries the true Judaism.5 Most recent interpretations of Philo have not been as ambitious as those of Wolfson and Goodenough. Such a book as Jean Danielou' s P hilon d' A lexandrie ( 1958), for example, is, as Goodenough points out, mainly a restatement of the work of earlier scholars and thus "cannot be considered a methodological contribution to the 1 Erwin R. Goodenough, By Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism (1935), p. 263. See also the discussion of the Amesha Spentas and the Light-Stream on pp. 12-15. 2 Goodenough, p. 263. 3 Goodenough, p. 263. 4 Goodenough, An Introduction to Philo judaeus (2nd ed.; 1962), p. 13. 5 Introduction, p. 160. Systematically to take issue with either Wolfson or Goodenough, or to summarize and comment on other major Philo studies ol the past one hundred years lies outside the scope of this study. Only where particular aspects of these various interpretations are immediately relevant to the subject matter of this study will they be considered critically. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Works on Giambattista Vico in English from 1884 Through 2009
    Works on Giambattista Vico in English from 1884 through 2009 COMPILED BY MOLLY BLA C K VERENE TABLE OF CON T EN T S PART I. Books A. Monographs . .84 B. Collected Volumes . 98 C. Dissertations and Theses . 111 D. Journals......................................116 PART II. Essays A. Articles, Chapters, et cetera . 120 B. Entries in Reference Works . 177 C. Reviews and Abstracts of Works in Other Languages ..180 PART III. Translations A. English Translations ............................186 B. Reviews of Translations in Other Languages.........192 PART IV. Citations...................................195 APPENDIX. Bibliographies . .302 83 84 NEW VICO STUDIE S 27 (2009) PART I. BOOKS A. Monographs Adams, Henry Packwood. The Life and Writings of Giambattista Vico. London: Allen and Unwin, 1935; reprinted New York: Russell and Russell, 1970. REV I EWS : Gianturco, Elio. Italica 13 (1936): 132. Jessop, T. E. Philosophy 11 (1936): 216–18. Albano, Maeve Edith. Vico and Providence. Emory Vico Studies no. 1. Series ed. D. P. Verene. New York: Peter Lang, 1986. REV I EWS : Daniel, Stephen H. The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography, n.s. 12 (1986): 148–49. Munzel, G. F. New Vico Studies 5 (1987): 173–75. Simon, L. Canadian Philosophical Reviews 8 (1988): 335–37. Avis, Paul. The Foundations of Modern Historical Thought: From Machiavelli to Vico. Beckenham (London): Croom Helm, 1986. REV I EWS : Goldie, M. History 72 (1987): 84–85. Haddock, Bruce A. New Vico Studies 5 (1987): 185–86. Bedani, Gino L. C. Vico Revisited: Orthodoxy, Naturalism and Science in the ‘Scienza nuova.’ Oxford: Berg, 1989. REV I EWS : Costa, Gustavo. New Vico Studies 8 (1990): 90–92.
    [Show full text]
  • A Priori Rules: Wittgenstein on the Normativity of Logic
    A Priori Rules: Wittgenstein on the Normativity of Logic Peter Railton The University of Michigan Introduction Like many, I have long been uneasy with the category of the a priori. Perhaps I have simply misunderstood it. It has seemed to me, at any rate, that asserting a claim or principle as a priori is tantamount to claiming that we would be justified in ruling out alternatives in advance, no matter what the future course of experience might hold. Yet in my own case, I have felt it would be mere bluffing were I to lodge such a claim. I certainly could not discover in myself any sense of the requisite authority, nor even any clear idea of where to look for guidance in forming it. Contemplating widely-used examples of "propositions true a priori" did not remove my worry. For a start, there was the shadow of history. A claim like "logical truth is a priori" or "the attribution of rationality is a priori in intentional explanation" kept sounding, to my ears, as if they echoed "the Euclidean geometry of space is a priori" or "the principle of sufficient reason is a priori in physical explanation". And these echoes awakened just sort of the worry that had initially unsettled me: I would pronouce myself satisfied that certain claims, at least, were safe from the threat of contrary experience, just on the eve of developments in our on-going view of the world that would lead a sensible person to want to reopen the question. So I would emerge looking like the (perhaps apocryphal) fellow who claimed, in the wake of the great inventions of the nineteenth century, that the US Patent Office could now be closed, since all the really new ideas had been used up.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophical Historiography in Marburg Neo-Kantianism: the Example of Cassirer’S Erkenntnisproblem", in from Hegel to Windelband, Eds
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications Philosophy, Department of 1-1-2015 Philosophical Historiography in Marburg Neo- Kantianism: The Example of Cassirer’s Erkenntnisproblem Sebastian Luft Marquette University, [email protected] Published version. "Philosophical Historiography in Marburg Neo-Kantianism: The Example of Cassirer’s Erkenntnisproblem", in From Hegel to Windelband, Eds. Gerald Hartung and Valentin Pluder. Boston : De Gruyter, 2015: 181-205. Publisher Link. © 2015 Walter De Gruyter. Used with permission. Sebastian Luft Philosophical Historiography in Marburg Neo-Kantianism: The Example of Cassirer's Erkenntnisproblem Introduction: Philosophical Historiography as Problem-History. Windelband as Paradigm We can think that "problem-history"l is exclusively a name for one way of philo­ sophical historiography among others. As such it is a method that recounts the history of philosophy in terms of its problems, and not in terms of philosophical personalities or cultural epochs. In this understanding, problem-history proceeds with the naIve assumption that problems exist "in themselves", that they are merely repeated and manifested differently in different epochs. Plainly stated, this sounds both trivial and problematic. And if this reading is true then it is no wonder that problem-history is accorded little interest today, despite the fact that the classical authors of problem-history writing are still readily consulted. Apart from the fact that such writers are still being constantly exploited for re­ search purposes in the present, their works are granted no independent philo­ sophical value. This applies equally to the authors of these works: they are not considered as independent philosophers but "only" as historians.
    [Show full text]
  • Pythagorean, Predecessor, and Hebrew: Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings
    Pythagorean, Predecessor, and Hebrew: Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings Jennifer Otto Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montreal March, 2014 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Jennifer Otto, 2014 ii Table of Contents Abstracts v Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations viii Introduction 1 Method, Aims and Scope of the Thesis 10 Christians and Jews among the nations 12 Philo and the Wisdom of the Greeks 16 Christianity as Philosophy 19 Moving Forward 24 Part I Chapter 1: Philo in Modern Scholarship 25 Introducing Philo 25 Philo the Jew in modern research 27 Conclusions 48 Chapter 2: Sects and Texts: The Setting of the Christian Encounter with Philo 54 The Earliest Alexandrian Christians 55 The Trajanic Revolt 60 The “Catechetical School” of Alexandria— A Continuous 63 Jewish-Christian Institution? An Alternative Hypothesis: Reading Philo in the Philosophical Schools 65 Conclusions 70 Part II Chapter 3: The Pythagorean: Clement’s Philo 72 1. Introducing Clement 73 1.1 Clement’s Life 73 1.2 Clement’s Corpus 75 1.3 Clement’s Teaching 78 2. Israel, Hebrews, and Jews in Clement’s Writings 80 2.1 Israel 81 2.2 Hebrews 82 2.3 Jews 83 3. Clement’s Reception of Philo: Literature Review 88 4. Clement’s Testimonia to Philo 97 4.1 Situating the Philonic Borrowings in the context of Stromateis 1 97 4.2 Stromateis 1.5.31 102 4.3 Stromateis 1.15.72 106 4.4 Stromateis 1.23.153 109 iii 4.5 Situating the Philonic Borrowings in the context of Stromateis 2 111 4.6 Stromateis 2.19.100 113 5.
    [Show full text]
  • CURRICULUM VITAE RICHARD BETT Department of Philosophy
    CURRICULUM VITAE RICHARD BETT Department of Philosophy The Johns Hopkins University Citizen of U.K. Baltimore, MD 21218-2686 Permanent Resident of U.S. Phone: (410) 516-6863 Fax: (410) 516-6848 e-mail: <[email protected]> EDUCATION B.A. Oxford University, 1980, Literae Humaniores (Classics and Philosophy). First Class Honours, Final Examinations, 1980; First Class Honours, Honour Moderations in Greek & Latin Literature, 1978 Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1986, Philosophy. Dissertation Title: “Moral Scepticism: Why Ask ‘Why Should I be Moral?’” CURRENT POSITION Professor and Chair of Philosophy, The Johns Hopkins University; secondary appointment in Classics PREVIOUS POSITIONS Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Arlington, 1986-1991 Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins, Jan.-June 1991 Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins, 1991-1994 Associate Professor of Philosophy, Johns Hopkins, 1994-2000; secondary appointment in Classics, 1996-2000 Acting Executive Director, The American Philosophical Association, Jan. 2000-June 2001 PUBLICATIONS a) Books Sextus Empiricus, Against the Ethicists (Adversus Mathematicos XI): Introduction, Translation and Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997, paperback 2000). Pp. xxxiv + 302 Pyrrho, his Antecedents and his Legacy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000, paperback 2003). Pp. xi + 264 Sextus Empiricus, Against the Logicians (Adversus Mathematicos VII-VIII): Introduction, Translation and Notes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). Pp. xliv
    [Show full text]
  • QUALIA: What It Is Like to Have an Experience
    QUALIA: What it is like to have an experience Qualia include the ways things look, sound and smell, the way it feels to have a pain, and more generally, what it's like to have experiential mental states. (‘Qualia’ is the plural of ‘quale’.) Qualia are experiential properties of sensations, feelings, perceptions and, more controversially, thoughts and desires as well. But, so defined, who could deny that qualia exist? Although the existence of subjective experience is not (or anyway should not be) controversial, ‘quale’—which is more clearly a technical term than ‘subjective experience’ is more often used by those who are inclined to reject the common-sense conception of subjective experience. Here is a first approximation to a statement of what is controversial: whether the phenomenology of experience can be exhaustively analyzed in intentional, functional or purely cognitive terms. Opponents of qualia think that the phenomenology of an experience can be exhaustively analyzed in terms of its representational or intentional content (“representationism”); or that the phenomenology of experience can be exhaustively analyzed in terms of its causal role (“functionalism”), or that having a subjective experiential state can be exhaustively analyzed in terms of having a state that is cognitively monitored in a certain way or accompanied by a thought to the effect that I have that state. If we include in the definition of ‘qualia’ the idea that the phenomenology of experience outruns such intentional, functional and cognitive analyses, then it is controversial whether there are qualia. This definition of `qualia' is controversial in a respect that is familiar in philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Editorial: Reflections on the Hypatia Controversy: Philosophical Methods and Social Justice
    Document generated on 09/28/2021 3:25 p.m. Atlantis Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice Études critiques sur le genre, la culture, et la justice Editorial Reflections on the Hypatia Controversy: Philosophical Methods and Social Justice Alison Suen and Chloë Taylor Volume 39, Number 2, 2018 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1064072ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1064072ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Mount Saint Vincent University ISSN 1715-0698 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this document Suen, A. & Taylor, C. (2018). Editorial: Reflections on the Hypatia Controversy: Philosophical Methods and Social Justice. Atlantis, 39(2), 57–60. https://doi.org/10.7202/1064072ar All Rights Reserved © Mount Saint Vincent University, 2018 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Special Section: Editorial Reflections on the Hypatia Controversy: Philosophical Methods and Social Justice Alison Suen is an assistant professor of philosophy at his cluster of articles proceeds from a symposium Iona College, New York. She received her BA in Tfunded by both the Social Sciences and Human- Philosophy from the University of Northern Iowa in ities Research Council of Canada and Kule Institute 2006, and her PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt for Advanced Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria Loren Kerns George Fox University, [email protected]
    Digital Commons @ George Fox University George Fox Evangelical Seminary 2013 Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria Loren Kerns George Fox University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes Part of the Christianity Commons, and the Church History Commons Recommended Citation Kerns, Loren, "Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria" (2013). George Fox Evangelical Seminary. Paper 6. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes/6 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in George Fox Evangelical Seminary by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. Kings College London Platonic and Stoic Passions in Philo of Alexandria A Dissertation submitted to The School of Arts and Humanities In Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religious Studies By Loren Kerns London, United Kingdom July 2013 Copyright by Loren Kerns, 2013 All rights reserved. Abstract Philo of Alexandria forged his theory of the soul and its passions while expositing the meaning of Torah. Though writing as a Jewish teacher and disciple of Moses, his biblical reflections display a strong orientation toward Middle-Platonic philosophy. On the topic of the soul and its passions, however, Philo also exhibits significant Stoic influence. The introduction notes Philo’s apparent incompatible use of both the complex Platonic and the monistic Stoic psychological models. After assessing the degree to which Philo understood 'passion' to be a type of Stoic impulse or opinion (chapter one), chapter two demonstrates that Philo consistently drew upon the Stoics’ depiction of all passions as irrational, excessive, and unnatural.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Cicero's Eclectic Probabilism
    Revista Archai ISSN: 1984-249X Universidade de Brasília Skvirsky, Alexandre Doubt and dogmatism in Cicero’s Academica Revista Archai, no. 27, e02705, 2019 Universidade de Brasília DOI: https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_27_5 Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=586161659005 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System Redalyc More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Journal's webpage in redalyc.org Portugal Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative AS ORIGENS DO PENSAMENTO OCIDENTAL THE ORIGINS OF WESTERN THOUGHT ARTIGO I ARTICLE Doubt and dogmatism in Cicero’s Academica Alexandre Skvirsky i https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9508-1023 [email protected] i Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro – Rio de Janeiro – RJ – Brasil SKVIRSKY, A. (2019). Doubt and dogmatism in Cicero’s Academica. Archai 27, e02705. Abstract: The objective is to show the peculiar way in which Cicero’s philosophical thinking is original and distances itself from the main representatives of the New Academy: the Roman thinker does not practice epoche, nor does he assign any special role to it in his thought. Instead, Cicero introduces the concept of doubt to characterize his own way of thinking. Keywords: Cicero, epoche, doubt, skepticism, probabilism. https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_27_5 [1] 2 Rev. Archai, n. 27, Brasília, 2019, e02705. Cicero’s philosophical contributions have often been downplayed, even by himself. His importance as a translator and divulger of philosophy among the Romans frequently overshadows his originality as a philosopher.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophia Ancilla Theologiae Allegory and Ascension in Philo’S on Mating with the Preliminary Studies (De Congressu Quaerendae Eruditionis Gratia)
    ARTICLES PHILOSOPHIA ANCILLA THEOLOGIAE ALLEGORY AND ASCENSION IN PHILO’S ON MATING WITH THE PRELIMINARY STUDIES (DE CONGRESSU QUAERENDAE ERUDITIONIS GRATIA) Hent de Vries, Johns Hopkins University Baltimore Translated by Jack Ben-Levi This essay takes Philo of Alexandria's allegorical reading in ‘De congressu quaerendae eruditionis gratia’ of Genesis 16: 1–6, which recounts Abraham's temporary relationship with Hagar, as anticipation of the philosophia ancilla theologiae motif that has informed much of Western Christian and philosophical thought. In so doing, it explores the ways in which Philo's view in ‘On Mating with the Preliminary Studies’ gives new meaning to the ancient Greek curriculum of the enkyklios paideia that would remain decisive for the idea of the artes liberales and the humaniora, from early modernity up until Gadamer's philosophical her- meneutics. I. INTRODUCTION Since its beginnings, Christian theology has considered it necessary to defend, in the court of contemporary opinion, the claim made by religious faith for its own universal truth. Yet at the same time, if this theology did not want simply to identify the God of faith with that of the philosophers, it had to keep alive a sense of the discrepancy between its doctrine and secular knowledge. A resolution of the resulting dilemma is to be found in one Platonic tradition that did indeed grant a certain importance to formal knowledge (epistēmē, scientia) and to philosophy (philosophia, philosophia), while in the end nonetheless subordinating them to Christian doctrine, considered to be the source of wisdom (sophia, sapientia).1 This position, familiar to us from the medieval dictum ‘philosophia ancilla theologiae’ (philosophy is the handmaiden of theology), was established much earlier.
    [Show full text]
  • When Science Became Western: Historiographical Reflections Author(S): by Marwa Elshakry Source: Isis, Vol
    When Science Became Western: Historiographical Reflections Author(s): By Marwa Elshakry Source: Isis, Vol. 101, No. 1 (March 2010), pp. 98-109 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/652691 . Accessed: 01/04/2013 12:49 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and The History of Science Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Isis. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 160.39.148.241 on Mon, 1 Apr 2013 12:49:23 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions When Science Became Western Historiographical Reflections By Marwa Elshakry* ABSTRACT While thinking about the notion of the “global” in the history of the history of science, this essay examines a related but equally basic concept: the idea of “Western science.” Tracing its rise in the nineteenth century, it shows how it developed as much outside the Western world as within it. Ironically, while the idea itself was crucial for the disciplinary formation of the history of science, the global history behind this story has not been much attended to.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Access to Essential Research in the Humanities!
    Online access to essential research in the humanities! Browse dozens of scholarly journals, series, and conference proceedings in applied ethics, philosophy, and religious studies. Enjoy online research in huge selections of material dating back to 1890. All articles are fulltext searchable and OpenURL ready. Many titles in the following categories: and free page previews are available to non- subscribers. Open access provided for • Analytic Philosophy select titles. Content is displayed in either • Ancient Philosophy HTML or PDF format. Institutions may order • Applied Philosophy single titles, bundles, or the entire collection. • Business and Professional Ethics Pricing is modest, and multi-campus and • Catholic Tradition consortia pricing is available. • Conference Proceedings • Contemporary Philosophy • Continental Philosophy • General Interest • History of Philosophy • Major Philosophers • Philosophy and Religion • Semiotics • Social and Political Philosophy • Teaching Philosophy Fulltext E-Collection – hosted by the Philosophy Documentation Center Since 1966 the Philosophy Documentation Center (PDC) has earned a reputation for excellence with the non-profit publication of scholarly journals, series, and conference proceedings, and reference works. We also provide membership and publishing services for learned societies in philosophy and related Coverage expands as new issues are fields. Our goal is to increase access to published. Subscribers have access to current humanities scholarship in a fair and issues and complete archives. Free search sustainable manner. Philosophy Documentation Center, P.O. Box 7147, Charlottesville, Virginia 22906-7147 USA, www.pdcnet.org Over 200 titles in English and other languages. 200 ,000+ articles, reviews, and other documents! Most titles available exclusively through PDC. www.pdcnet.org /ecollection •The Acorn (Vol. 1, 1986, to present) •The New Scholasticism (Vol.
    [Show full text]