GREEK PHILOSOPHY: THE RELIGIOUS PERIOD [150 BCE – 500 AD]
Greek philosophy began in Greek religion; and after its formative phase, described earlier, reached an apex in Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. The subsequent ethical theories of the Epicurean and Stoic schools, the nihilism of the Skeptics and the piece-meal practicality of the Eclectics did not satisfy all types of mind…”We come now to a period in History when Philosophy seeks refuge in Religion”…The new attitude sought to know and see God, brought about by and expresses consciousness of the decline of the classical peoples and their culture, “gave rise to a philosophy strongly tinctured with religious mysticism,” “brought to life not only Christianity, but, before its advent, pagan and Jewish Alexandrianism and its kindred phenomena”…We may distinguish three currents to this religious philosophy: [1] an attempt to combine an Oriental religion, Judaism, with Greek speculation: Jewish Greek Philosophy, [2] an attempt to construct a world-religion upon Pythagorean doctrines: Neophythaore4anism;[3] an attempt to make a religious philosophy of the Platonic teaching: Neoplatonism”…Here are some comments on the main tendencies:
1.1.1
Jewish Greek
philosophy
The main exponent is Philo [30 BCE-50
CE]. Philo read Greek philosophy, especially Platonism and Stoicism, into the
Scriptures by the allegorical method which was common in Alexandria [founded by
Alexander the Great in 333 BCE, which had become under the descendents of his
general Ptolemy [328-181 BCE] the leading commercial and intellectual center of
the world and the chief meeting place of Hellenic and Oriental civilization.
Here a great scientific museum with its celebrated library of 700,000 volumes
was established under Ptolemy – which attracted poets, men of science,
philosophers from every region of the classical world]. The fundamental concept
in the system of Philo is God and his powers are the Logos, the Divine reason
or Wisdom, which we recognize through the logos in ourselves…Man, the most
important piece of creation, is a microcosm which, like the universe, is
composed of both soul and matter [the source of defects and evils in the world]
1.1.2
Neo-Pythagoreanism
…has its sources in Platonism. Plato
in his old age absorbed the number-theory and the religious mysticism of the
Pythagoreans: his immediate successors in his school emphasized these latter
day teachings. With the rise of Aristotelianism, the Academy abandoned
Pythagoreanism. The Pythagorean secret societies with their mysteries,
continued to lead a precarious existence until they were revitalized by the
religious upsurge which took possession of the Roman world in the first century
CE and the spirit of the times encouraged them to devote themselves once more
to philosophy. The leaders in the movement, however, did not go back to early
Pythagoreanism but to the doctrine as it appeared in Platonism and combined it
eclectically with other elements of Greek philosophy, including Aristotelianism
and Stoicism. All this they naively ascribed to Pythagoras
1.1.3
Neoplatonism
Generally regarded to have been
founded by Plotinus [204-169 BCE.]
…derives from Pythagoreanism. Plato’s
system becomes the framework for a religious worldview. The main figure is
Plotinus [204-269 BCE]. His philosophy is briefly summarized: [1] God is the
source of all being [the One whose infinity contains all, the first causeless
cause, the unity prior to all being and beyond all being], [2] the stages of
being are [I] pure thought or mind, [ii] soul and [iii] matter; [3] the human
soul is part of the world soul and its freedom consists in turning away from
sensuality towards its higher nature. If it fails to do this it becomes
attached after death to another human, animal or plant body according to the
degree of its guilt. The ideal in life is return to God – this occurs only on
rare occasions, [4] ordinary virtues do not suffice to return to God; first
purification – from the sense, the body – then contemplation, and finally the
mystical union with God in which the soul transcends its own thought
Common to all these theologies, or
theosophies, are: the concept of God as a transcendent being, the dualism of
God and world, the idea of revealed and mystical knowledge of God, asceticism
and world denial, the belief in intermediary beings, demons and angels
1.2 THE DECLINE OF GREEK
PHILOSOPHY
1.2.1
The closing of
the school at Athens
The period from Aristotle on is a
decline in quality and originality…Neoplatonism was revived by Procleus
[410-485] the head of the Academy at
1.2.2
The Consolation
of Philosophy by Boethius
Boethius wrote while he was imprisoned [he came to
high political office under Theodoric but was accused of conspiracy against
Theodoric], takes its place along with Marcus Aurelius’ Meditation [Stoic
philosopher, Emperor 121-180] and Thomas รก Kempis Imitation of Christ
[fourteenth century mystic: 1380-1471] as the great documents in which
religious, philosophical and ethical ideas are applied in the personal life of
their authors
In the sixth century, Greek Platonism was making its final desperate attempt to maintain itself in competition with the new Christian worldview but Greek philosophy at this period had lost its vitality, had outlived its usefulness. The future belonged to Christianity; and by a strange irony of fate, the Christian religion, in it attempt to conquer the intellectual world, made an ally of the philosophy of the Greeks.
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