Monday 4 July 2011

Róbert Somos - Is the Handmaid Stoic or Middle Platonic? Some comments on Origen's use of logic


According to the communis opinio based on the studies of Roberts, of Rist, and of Heine Origen’s ideas on the field of logic and dialectics come directly from the Stoic philosophy. 
My aim is to modify this view because I think that Origen used mixed material from Stoic and Aristotelian logic incorporated in the works and schoolbooks of Middle-Platonic authors. There is no hard evidence that the Alexandrian thinker obtained his logical knowledge directly from Stoics. Naturally, indirectly Origen knows Stoic initiatives in the field of logic, but it is not necessary to count upon his being directly influenced by Stoic logical thinkers. My aim here is simply and purely destructive and I focus on criticism on papers claiming to prove the direct influence of Stoic logic. 

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