Jewish Philosophy in Antiquity: Philo of Alexandria among his Philosophical Peers

Two independent questions have long divided scholars: (1) whether Philo of Alexandria is a philosopher and (2) the philosophical school (or schools) to which he belongs (e.g. Platonic, Stoic, Pythagorean). This chapter suggests setting aside these questions in favor of placing Philo’s thought within the context of the philosophical debates of his time. In ethics, physics and epistemology, Philo’s writings are shaped by the preoccupations that characterized the philosophical discussions at the end of the Hellenistic period. Philo is a eudaimonist who values virtue as the only genuine good. Adopting a dualistic viewpoint, he associates the good with the intelligible realm and the bad with the corporeal. His physics revolves around the questions of God’s causality and relation toward the created realm. Philo is immersed in the philosophical debates concerning the interpretation of Plato’s Timaeus and in those regarding the perishability of the world. His epistemology contains traces of Skepticism but is oriented toward knowledge of the creative and providential role of God.