reflection is thinking reason (λόγος), the Firstborn Son, who rules and
regulates the world. This λόγος is the innermost meaning of all Ideas;
God Himself, in contrast to this, as the One, as such, is pure Being
(τὸ ὄν) only[210]—an expression which Plato also used. Here verily we
come upon a contradiction; for the image can only represent what the
thing is; if therefore the image is concrete, its original must also be
understood to be concrete. For the rest, it is therefore only logical,
after Philo has once limited the name of God to the First Light or
to pure Being, to assert that only the Son can be known. For as this
Being God is only abstract existence, or only His own Notion; and it
is quite true that the soul cannot perceive what this Being is, since
it is really only an empty abstraction. What can be perceived is that
pure existence is only an abstraction, and consequently a nothing, and
not the true God. Of God as the One it may therefore be said that the
only thing perceived is that He does exist. Perception is the knowledge
of the concrete self-determination of the living God. If we therefore
desire to know God, we must add to Being, as the First, this other
moment also; the former is defective, and as abstract as when we say,
‘God the Father,’” that is, this undisclosed One, this indeterminate
in Himself, who has not yet created anything; the other moment is,
however, the determination and distinction of Himself in Himself, the
begetting. What is begotten is His other, which at the same time is in
Him, and belongs to Him, and is thus a moment of Himself, if God is to
be thought of as concrete and living it is this that is here by Philo
called λόγος. In Christianity the name of God is therefore not limited
to Essence, but the Son is conceived of as a determination which itself
belongs to the true Essence of God. That which God is, He is therefore
as Spirit only, and that is the unity of these moments.
God’s differences therefore, according to Philo, constitute the finite
understanding (λόγος) itself, which is then the archangel (ἀρχάγγελος),
a realm of thought which contains determinateness. That is man as
heavenly man, primeval man, who is also represented under the name of
Wisdom (σοφία, תגמה), as Adam Kadmon, as the rising of the sun—man in
God. This finite understanding now separates itself into Ideas, which
by Philo are also named angels or messengers (ἄγγελοι). This mode of
conception is not yet conception in pure thought, for forms of the
imagination are still interwoven with it. Moreover there comes in here
for the first time that which determines, where God is looked on as
activity, which so far Being was not. This λόγος is therefore itself,
we might say, the first restful world of thought, although it is
already differentiated; but another λόγος is that which gives utterance
(λόγος προφορικός) as speech. That is the activity, the creation of the
world, as the former is its preservation, its permanent understanding.
Speech has always been regarded as a manifestation of God, because it
is not corporeal; as sound it is momentary and immediately disappears;
its existence is therefore immaterial. “God created by the word of
His month, interposing nothing;” what He created remains ideal, like
speech. “If we would express the dogma in a still truer form, the Logos
is the ‘Work of God.’”[211]
This Logos is at the same time the teacher of wisdom for
self-consciousness. For natural things are upheld only in their laws;
but self-conscious beings know also of these laws, and this is wisdom.
Thus the λόγος is the high priest, who is the mediator between God and
man, the Spirit of the Godhead, who teaches man—even the self-conscious
return of God into Himself, into that first unity of the primordial
light. That is the pure intelligible world of truth itself, which is
nothing other than the Word of God.[212]
3. In the third place, since thought has come to negativity, the
sensuous existent world stands in opposition to this ideal world. Its
principle with Philo, as with Plato, is matter, the negative (οὐκ
ὄν).[213] As God is Being, so the essence of matter is non-being; it is
not nothing, as when we say that God created the world out of nothing,
for non-being, the opposite of Being, is itself a positive, and as
good as Being. It exists, in so far as there is placed within it a
resemblance to implicit truth. Philo had the true perception that the
opposite of Being is just as positive as Being. If this seems absurd to
anyone, he need only be reminded that really when we posit Being, the
negative of Being is thinking—which is something very positive. But the
next step, the Notion of this opposition, and the passing of Being into
non-being, is not to be found in Philo. In general this philosophy is
less a metaphysic of the Notion or of Thought itself, than a philosophy
in which Mind appears only in pure Thought, and not here in the mode
of ordinary conception—Notions and Ideas are still represented as
independent forms. Thus, for instance, it is said: “In the beginning
the Word of God created the heavens, which consist of the purest Being
and are the dwelling-place of the purest angels, which do not appear,
and are not perceptible by the senses,” but by thought alone; these
are the Ideas. “The Creator before the whole of the intelligible world
made the incorporeal heavens and the non-sensuous earth, and the Idea
of the air and of the void, and after this the incorporeal essence
of the water and an incorporeal light, and a non-sensuous archetype
(ἀρχέτυπος) of the sun and all the stars;”[214] and the sensuous world
is the anti-type of this. Philo now proceeds according to the Mosaic
record. In the Old Testament history of creation, grass, plants, and
trees are created on the third day, and on the fourth day lights in
the firmament of heaven, the sun and moon. Philo therefore says (De
mundi opificio, pp. 9, 10) that on the fourth day a number adorned the
heavens, the four, the tetractys, the most perfect, &c. These are the
main points in Philo’s philosophy.
B. CABALA AND GNOSTICISM.
The Cabalistic philosophy and the Gnostic theology both occupied
themselves with these same conceptions which Philo also had. To them
also the First is the abstract, the unknown, the nameless; the Second
is the unveiling, the concrete, which goes forth into emanation.
But there is also to be found in some degree the return to unity,
especially among Christian philosophers: and this return, which is
accepted as the Third, belongs to the λόγος; so with Philo Wisdom, the
teacher, the high priest, was that which in the contemplation of God
leads back the Third to the First.
1. CABALISTIC PHILOSOPHY.
Cabala is the name given to the secret wisdom of the Jews, with which,
however, much that is dark and mysterious is mingled; regarding its
origin also many fables are related. We are told of it that it is
contained in two books, _Jezirah_ (Creation) and _Sohar_ (Brightness).
_Jezirah_, the more important of these two books, is ascribed to a
certain Rabbi Akibha; it is about to be published in a more complete
form by Herr von Mayer, in Frankfort. The book has certain very
interesting general principles, and this better portion of it consists
of ideas, which in some respects resemble those of Philo, though they
are more fancifully presented, and often sink into the fantastic. It
is not of the antiquity which those who reverence the Cabala would
assign to it; for they relate that this heavenly book was given to
Adam to console him after his fall. It is a medley of astronomy,
magic, medicine, and prophecy; sundry traces followed up historically
indicate that such were cultivated in Egypt. Akibha lived soon after
the destruction of Jerusalem, and took an active part in a revolt of
the Jews against Hadrian, in the course of which they collected an army
two hundred thousand strong, in order to establish Barcochba as the
Messiah; the revolt was, however, suppressed, and the Rabbi was flayed
alive. The second book is said to have been the work of his disciple,
Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai, who was called the Great Light, the Spark of
Moses.[215] Both books were translated into Latin in the seventeenth
century. A speculative Israelite, Rabbi Abraham Cohen Irira, also wrote
a book, the Door of Heaven (_Porta c\nlorum_); it is later, dating
from the fifteenth century, and sundry references to the Arabians and
Scholastics are contained in it. These are the sources of the high
cabalistic wisdom.
In earlier times there is no representation among the Jews of God as
being in His essence Light, of an opposite to God, Darkness and Evil,
which is at strife with the Light; there is nothing of good and evil
angels, of the Fall of the wicked, of their condemnation, of their
being in Hell, of a future day of judgment for the good and the evil,
of the corruption of the flesh. It was not until this time that the
Jews began to carry their thoughts beyond their reality; only now does
a world of spirit, or at least of spirits, begin to open itself up
before them; before this these Jews cared only for themselves, being
sunk in the filth and self-conceit of their present existence, and in
the maintenance of their nation and tribes.
Further particulars of the Cabala are these. One is expressed as the
principle of all things, as it is likewise the first source of all
numbers. As unity itself is not one number among the rest, so is
it with God, the basis of all things, the _En-Soph_. The emanation
therewith connected is the effect of the first cause by the limitation
of that first infinite whose boundary (ὅρος) it is. In this one cause
all is contained _eminenter_, not _formaliter_ but _causaliter_.
The second element of importance is the Adam Kadmon, the first man,
_Kether_, the first that arose, the highest crown, the microcosm, the
macrocosm, with which the world that emanated stands in connection as
the efflux of light. By further expansion the other spheres or circles
of the world came into being; and this emanation is represented as
streams of light. In the first place there come forth ten of such
emanations, _Sephiroth_, forming the pure world _Azilah_, which exists
in itself and changes not. The second is the world _Beriah_, which
does change. The third is the created world, _Jezirah_, the world of
pure spirits set in matter, the souls of the stars—that is, further
distinctions into which this dark and mysterious philosophy proceeds.
In the fourth place comes the created world, the _Asijja_: it is the
lowest, the vegetative and sensible world.[216]
2. THE GNOSTICS.
Though there are various sects of the Gnostics, we find certain common
determinations constituting their basis.
\Joe Cooper\roddr\charliehoward\— Professor Neander has with great
learning made a collection of these, and elaborated them exhaustively;
some of the forms correspond with those which we have given. Their
general aim was that of knowledge (γνῶσις); whence they also derived
their name.
One of the most distinguished Gnostics is Basilides. For him, too,
the First is the unspeakable God (θεὸς ἄῤῥητος)—the _En-Soph_ of the
Cabala; He is, as with Philo also, that which is (τὸ ὄν), He who is (ὁ
ὤν), the nameless one (ἀνωνόμαστος)—that is, the immediate. The second
is then the Spirit (νοῦς), the first-born, also λόγος, the Wisdom
(σοφία), Power (δύναμις): more closely defined, it is Righteousness
(δικαιοσύνη), and Peace (εἰρήνη). These are followed by principles
still further determined, which Basilides names archons, heads of
spiritual kingdoms. One main point in this is likewise the return, the
refining process of the soul, the economy of purification (οἰκονονία
καθάρσεων): the soul from matter must come back to wisdom, to peace.
The First Essence bears all perfection sealed up in Himself, but only
in potentiality; Spirit, the first-born, is the first revelation of
the latent. It is, moreover, only through being made one with God that
all created beings can attain to a share in true righteousness and the
peace which flows therefrom.[217]
The Gnostics, for instance Marcus, term the First also the Unthinkable
(ἀνεννόητος), even the Non-existent (ἀνούσιος) which proceeds not to
determinateness, the Solitude (μονότης), and the pure Silence (σιγή);
the Ideas, the angels, the æons, then form the Other. These are termed
the Notions, roots, seeds of particular fulfillings (πληρώματα), the
fruit; every æon in this bears its own special world in itself.[218]
With others, as for instance Valentinus, the First is also termed
“the completed æon in the heights that cannot be seen or named,” or
the unfathomable, the primordial cause, the absolute abyss (ἄβυσσον,
βῦθος), wherein all is, as abrogated: also what is even before
the beginning (προάρχη), before the Father (προπάτωρ). The active
transition of the One signifies then the differentiation (διάθεσις)
of this abyss; and this development is also termed the making itself
comprehensible of the incomprehensible (κατάληψις τοῦ ἀκαταλήπτου), in
the same way that we found comprehension spoken of by the Stoics (Vol.
II. p. 250). Æons, particular expositions, are Notions. The second step
is likewise termed limitation (ὅρος); and inasmuch as the development
of life is conceived more clearly by contrast, the key to this is
stated to be contained in two principles, which appear in the form of
male and female. The one is required to perfect the other, each has its
complement (σύζυγος) in the other; from their conjunction (σύνθεσις,
συξυγία), which first constitutes the real, a perfect whole proceeds.
The inward significance of these fulfilments generally is the world of
æons, the universal filling of the abyss, which therefore, inasmuch
as what was distinguished in it was still unrevealed, is also termed
hermaphrodite, man-woman (ἀῤῥενόθηλυς),[219]—very much the same theory
as was held long before by the Pythagoreans (Vol. I. p. 221).
Ptolemæus assigns two conjunctions (σύζυγους) to the abyss, and
two separations, which are pre-supposed throughout all temporal
existence, Will and Perception (θέλημα καὶ ἔννοια). Complicated and
motley forms here appear, but the fundamental determination is the
same throughout, and abyss and revelation are the most important
matters. The revelation which has come down is also conceived as the
glory (δόξα, Shekinah) of God; as heavenly wisdom, which is itself
a beholding of God; as unbegotten powers which encircle Him and are
radiant with the most brilliant light. To these Ideas the name of God
is more especially given, and in this regard He is also called the
many-named (πολυώνυμος), the demiurge; this is the manifestation, the
determination of God.[220]
All these forms pass into the mysterious, but they have on the whole
the same determinations as principle; and the general necessity which
forms their basis is a profound necessity of reason, namely, the
determination and comprehension of what is absolute as the concrete.
I have, however, merely been desirous of calling these forms to
remembrance, in order to indicate their connection with the universal.
C. ALEXANDRIAN PHILOSOPHY.
The unity of self-consciousness and Being appears in more philosophical
and intelligent form in the Alexandrian School, which constitutes the
most important, and at the same time the most characteristic form of
philosophy pertaining to this sphere. For Alexandria had for some time
past, mainly through the Ptolemies, become the principal seat of the
sciences. Here, as if in their centre-point, all the popular religions
and mythologies of the East and West, and likewise their history, came
into touch and intermingled with one another in various forms and
shapes. Religions were compared with one another: in each of them there
was, on the one hand, a searching for and putting together of that
which was contained also in the other, and, on the other hand, there
was the more important task of reading into the popular conceptions
of religion a deeper meaning, and of giving to them a universal
allegorical signification. This endeavour has doubtless given birth to
much that is dim and mystical; its purer product is the Alexandrian
Philosophy. The bringing together of the philosophies naturally
succeeded better than those connections which, on the side of religion,
are only the mystic products of a Reason that as yet is unintelligible
to itself. For while in fact there is but one Idea in Philosophy, it
annuls by its own means the special form which it has adopted, the
one-sidedness in which it expresses itself. In Scepticism had been
reached this negative stage of seeing annulled the definite modes of
Being in which the Absolute was posited.
Since the form of philosophy which arose in Alexandria did not attach
itself to any of the earlier philosophic schools, but recognized
all the different systems of philosophy, and more especially the
Pythagorean, Platonic, and Aristotelian, to be in their various forms
but one, it was frequently asserted to be Eclecticism. Brucker (Hist.
crit. phil. T. II., p. 193) is the first to do so, as I have found,
and Diogenes Laërtius gave him the occasion thereto, by speaking
(Pr\nmium, § 21) of a certain Potamo of Alexandria, who not so very
long before (ρπὸ ὀλίγου) had selected from the different philosophies
their principal maxims and the best of their teaching. Then Diogenes
goes on to quote several passages from Potamo, saying that this
writer had produced an eclectic philosophy; but these maxims drawn
from Aristotle, Plato, and the Stoics are not of importance, and the
distinguishing characteristics of the Alexandrians cannot be recognized
therein. Diogenes is also earlier than the Alexandrian School; but
Potamo, according to Suidas (s.v. Ποτάμον, T. III., p. 161), was
tutor of the stepsons of Augustus, and for the instructor of princes
eclecticism is a very suitable creed. Therefore, because this Potamo
is an Alexandrian, Brucker has bestowed on the Alexandrian philosophy
the name of Eclectic; but that is neither consistent with fact, nor is
it true to history. Eclecticism is something to be utterly condemned,
if it is understood in the sense of one thing being taken out of this
philosophy, and another thing out of that philosophy, altogether
regardless of their consistency or connection, as when a garment is
patched together of pieces of different colours or stuffs. Such an
eclecticism gives nothing but an aggregate which lacks all inward
consistency. Eclectics of this kind are sometimes ordinary uncultured
men, in whose heads the most contradictory ideas find a place side
by side, without their ever bringing these thoughts together and
becoming conscious of the contradictions involved; sometimes they are
men of intelligence who act thus with their eyes open, thinking that
they attain the best when, as they say, they take the good from every
system, and so provide themselves with a _vade mecum_ of reflections,
in which they have everything good except consecutiveness of thought,
and consequently thought itself. An eclectic philosophy is something
that is altogether meaningless and inconsequent: and such a philosophy
the Alexandrian philosophy is not. In France the Alexandrians are
still called Eclectics; and there, where _système_ is synonymous with
narrowness of views, and where indeed one must have the name which
sounds least systematic and suspicious, that may be borne with.
In the better sense of the word the Alexandrians may, however, very
well be called eclectic philosophers, though it is quite superfluous
to give them this designation at all. For the Alexandrians took as
their groundwork the philosophy of Plato, but availed themselves of
the general development of Philosophy, which after Plato they became
acquainted with through Aristotle and all the following philosophies,
and especially through the Stoics; that is to say, they reinstated it,
but as invested with a higher culture. Therefore we find in them no
refutation of the views of the philosophers whom they quote. To this
higher culture there more especially belongs the deeper principle that
absolute essence must be apprehended as self-consciousness, that its
very essence is to be self-consciousness, and that it is therefore
in the individual consciousness. This is not to be understood as
signifying that God is a Spirit who is outside of the world and outside
self-consciousness, as is often said, but as indicating that His
existence as self-conscious spirit is really self-consciousness itself.
The Platonic universal, which is in thought, accordingly receives the
signification of being as such absolute essence. In the higher sense a
wider point of view as regards the Idea thus signifies its concretely
blending into one the preceding principles, which contain only single
one-sided moments of the Idea. This really indicates a deeper knowledge
of the philosophical Idea which is known concretely in itself, so
that the more abstract principles are contained in the deeper form
of the Idea. For after some divergence has taken place in the past
it must from time to time come about that the implicit identity of
the divergent views is recognized, so that difference has force only
as form. In this sense even Plato is eclectic, since he harmonized
Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides; and the Alexandrians are also
thus eclectics, seeing that they were just as much Pythagoreans as
Platonists and Aristotelians; the only thing is that this term always
at once calls up the idea of an arbitrary selection.
All earlier philosophies could therefore find a place in that of
the Alexandrians. For in Alexandria the Ptolemies had attracted to
themselves science and the learned, partly by reason of their own
interest in science, and partly on account of the excellence of their
institutions. They founded the great and celebrated library for which
the Greek translation of the Old Testament was made; after Cæsar had
destroyed it, it was again restored. There was also there a museum, or
what would nowadays be called an Academy of Science, where philosophers
and men of special learning received payments of money, and had no
other duties than that of prosecuting scientific study. In later times
such foundations were instituted in Athens also, and each philosophic
school had its own public establishment,[221] without favour being
shown to one philosophy or to the other. Thus the Neo-Platonic
philosophy arose beside the others, and partly upon their ruins, and
overshadowed the rest, until finally all earlier systems were merged
therein. It, therefore, did not constitute an individual philosophical
school similar to those which went before; but, while it united them
all in itself, it had as its leading characteristic the study of Plato,
of Aristotle, and of the Pythagoreans.
With this study was combined an interpretation of the writings of these
men, which aimed at exhibiting their philosophic ideas in their unity;
and the principal mode in which the Neo-Platonic teachers carried on
and elaborated Philosophy consisted in their explaining the various
philosophical works, especially the writings of Plato and Aristotle, or
giving sketches of these philosophies. These commentaries on the early
philosophers were either given in lectures or written; and many of them
have come down to us, some in the number being excellent. Aristotle’s
works were commented on by Alexander Aphrodisiensis, Andronicus
Rhodius, Nicolaus Damascenus, and also Porphyrius. Plato had as
commentators Numenius and Maximus Tyrius. Other Alexandrians combined
a commentary on Plato with study of the other philosophic maxims or
philosophies, and managed to grasp the point of unity of the various
modes of the Idea very successfully. The best commentaries date from
this period; most of the works of Proclus are commentaries on single
dialogues of Plato and similar subjects. This school has the further
peculiarity of expressing speculation as actual divine Being and life,
and, therefore, it makes this appear to be mystical and magical.
1. AMMONIUS SACCAS.
Ammonius Saccas, that is, the sack-bearer, is named as one of the first
or most celebrated teachers of this school; he died A.D. 243.[222]
But we have none of his writings, nor have any traditions regarding
his philosophy come down to us. Among his very numerous disciples
Ammonius had many men celebrated in other branches of science, for
example, Longinus and Origen; it is, however, uncertain if this were
the Christian Father of that name. But his most renowned disciple in
philosophy is Plotinus, through whose writings as they are preserved
to us we derive our chief knowledge of the Neo-Platonic philosophy.
The systematized fabric of this philosophy is, indeed, ascribed to him
by those who came after, and this philosophy is known specially as his
philosophy.
2. PLOTINUS.