My aim is to study the position of philosophy within Philo's theory of education, its
relation to encyclical studies and to the highest forms of knowledge. As true knowledge is
the knowing of the law of God and all the studies should aim to transmit and explain it,
philosophy gets its role within this view point. There is a strong relation among the
various fields of study, as one and the same the order is in all the different spheres of
reality. Order and harmony in an individual and in a state are the same as in the cosmos;
they are the order and the harmony of the law set down by God, who is both creator and
foundation of such order. So, one and the same the law is for an individual, for a state,
for the cosmos.(1) Thus the study of higher truths and the
attempt to reach wisdom enlightens also secular knowledge and behaviours.
There is no difference between unbalance within a city and within a soul; the first
relies on the second and the transgression of the Law consists in abandoning the
observance of divine word. It isn't only a question of knowing how to maintain a situation
established by rulers or by individuals ethically engaged, but also of following an order
and a law which come from God, which, as such, are not discussable and alterable. However,
many peoples in the world don't relate to divine law. They follow their own rules which
can be more or less good, but which, anyhow, don't conform with God's will. One is the
design according to which God created universe and established rules in the world,(2)
and even if the distance existing between divine law and human mind implies that men
cannot aim to a complete knowledge of the cosmic harmony set by God, nor to a perfect
imitation of it in the human sphere, subject to error and evil, however, men can try to
follow divine law. The question is of knowing such law, and of teaching it.
In the following pages I will try to show:
1) that there are different paths to the attainment of truth and virtue, different
forms of acquiring the knowledge of the Law, and that these forms are represented in
different Biblical characters,
2) that these paths and forms are not hindered for men who can go through them, at
least partially, often with the mediation of high characters,
3) that there is a strict relation among encyclical studies, philosophy, attainment of
the higher truths, and that wisdom cannot be reached without all these steps,
4) that the search of truth implies felicity in itself.
1. Different paths to the attainment of truth and virtue.
Relation with Biblical characters
Examples of different paths towards virtue appear in relation with different Biblical
characters. In particular, the Patriarchs received the Law, but while Abraham embodies the
man who acquires virtue, Isaac received virtue directly by nature. They are the prototypes
of the progressive man and of the perfect man and they constitute models for imitation,
exactly as Moses who is not only the one who delivered the Law to men but also a man who
teaches by his own way of acting.(3) It is thus clarified
that education is a combination of instruction, nature and practice and can take different
paths, in particular listening and imitation. "To gaze continuously upon noble models
imprints their likeness in souls which are not entlirely hardened and stony. And therefore
those who would imitate examples of good living so marvellous in their loveliness, are
bidden not to despair of changing for the better"(Praem.114-115). The highest
example of man who should be imitated is probably Moses who "set up himself and his
own life as a well-wrought picture, a piece of work most beutiful and godlike, a model for
those willing to copy it. Happy are they who imprint, or strive to imprint, that image in
their souls" (Mos. I.158-59).
As A. Mendelson(4) points out, "the most striking
aspect of Moses' education was its "international" character. Instructors came
from all over the civilized world; yet the actual disciplines studied are so reminiscent
of those mentioned in Book VII of the Republic (522c ff.) that the Greek stamp of
the studies is clear."
Abraham and Moses are a model for the others and teach them how to act. So imitation is
one of the ways of acquiring virtue. Beside imitation, also other forms of education are
decribed by Philo, first of all speech which can be a sophistic way of communication, but
can also aim to truth. The acquisition of Abraham, anyhow, is connected with nature:
" Abraham, then, filled with zeal for piety, the highest and greatest of virtues, was
eager to follow God and to be obedient to His commands; understanding by commands not only
those conveyed in speech and writing, but also those made manifest by nature with clearer
signs [...] For anyone who contemplates the order in nature and the
constitution enjoyed by the world-city [...] needs no speaker to teach him to practise a
law-abiding and peaceful life" (Abr. 60-61). We are here speaking of two
different kinds of teaching, the one through the listening to the word, the other through
signs. The distinction arises between listening and vision, as also the signs of nature
become an object to be seen and grasped. Likewise, the imitation of which we spoke about
the Patriarchs and Moses, models to others, is within the sphere of the vision. Now,
vision can be of two kinds: the indirect vision of the shadow cast in the world by the
Artificer in his works, and the clear vision of the First Cause Himself,(5)
vision which, anyhow, even if possible, is not for everybody.
As all the world is based upon the same order and upon the Law, however, men are nor
the only teachers in the world. Also nature can become a tool of education. An example of
the teaching function of the nature and of the relation between cosmic and human order is
given in the De Vita Mosis (1.113), where we find the punishments inflicted by
Moses upon Pharaoh by means of nature,
"we have [...] to examine those which were administered by Moses himself,
and to shew what were the parts of nature which went to their making. We find that air and
heaven, the purest portions of the universe, took on the succession to earth and water in
that admonition of Egypt which Moses was appointed to superintend" (transl. by F.H.
Colson and G. H. Whittaker).
Such is the coherence among the human, cosmic, and divine orders that nature becomes a
tool of admonition. It is moved by God, it isn't independent, but it changes its rhythm
and its own rules: water becomes blood (Mos. 1.99), aquatic animals invade arid
areas (Mos .1.103), unusual phenomena interrupt natural cycles (Mos.1.117-119).
Whether God decides so, the order of the world is overthrown, and those same elements that
God used for the formation of the universe become a tool for the ruin of the wicked men (Mos.
I. 113).(6) So, nature works hand in hand with God to
restore an equilibrium among men and to teach justice and order(Mos. I.120). In the
same way, speaking of Flaccum and of his sorrows, Philo shows the presence of the pronoia,
the acting of punishments for Flaccus' wickedness, the violence of a death which has
teaching value (Flacc. 124-126; 174; 189). At the background there is the notion of
a universal harmony, of a cosmic balance based upon the Law. This one organizes the cosmos
(Opif. 10;13), the relations between men and animals (Opif. 84), the human
world (Opif. 69; 82) which is shaped and ordered by God according to a pattern
created by him (Opif. 17-20).
2. In principle the forms of virtue are not hindered for men
The Law was given to Moses on Sinai, but operated even before then, in as much as the
Patriarchs, novmoi jevmyucoi , were the living law, law endowed with reason.(7)
They demonstrate the coherence between human and natural rules and the possibility of
following the written Law (Abr. 6).(8) By their very
way of life, according to the Law, even if it had not yet been revealed, the Patriarchs
were a model guiding others, through persuasion, to a proper mode of personal conduct.(9)
Philo distinguishes among novmo" ejvmyuco", natural law which was transmitted
by Moses, and particular laws of individual cities.(10)
Nations chose legislators and human laws; only Israel received its laws from God. Thus,
Israel follows a steady and eternal order which is above human vicissitudes.(11)
As the cosmos is from God, it is pervaded by order and harmony and all reality is
organized following a structure which can be numerically read:(12)
proportion marks reality. There is, then, order within the cosmos and order within the
human sphere which should accept the Law with its hierarchical setting.(13)
It is a hierarchy among men and, even before, a hierarchy of man over animals.(14)
In fact, all the cosmos is organized following an order and every creature has a
particular position and role. Accepting Law means accepting its own position in the world,
and this acceptance implies peace and equilibrium. There is a hierarchy within the cosmos
and a hierarchy within the cities, such as there is a hierarchy in the generations, a
decay since Adam, the first man. He is the primogenitor and he is also the only man for
whom the world was his home, his town, his homeland.(15)
While for Adam there was just one order, human cities are based upon particular laws .
These are quite different from natural law(16) which is
constructed upon harmony and equilibrium deriving from God.(17)
If for Stoicism the source of the law is traceable in reason, however, in Philo it is
in God. For Stoicism natural and rational order set together, a life according to
lovgo" is a life according to nature.(18) For Philo,
the source of good is not nature but God, and the knowledge of the nature doesn't
necessarily lead to virtue. However, the source of human good and of natural order is
unique and "any discipline which orders phenomena in the physical universe may lead
to knowledge of God from design."(19) It isn't a
question of knowing the science of nature, but the cosmic law as inscribed in the Torah.(20)
Since there is a hiatus between universal and particular laws of the cities, however, it
is necessary to have an intermediate, a man who can connect the two spheres because of his
superiority,(21) determined by his excellence.(22)
It isn't a question of hereditary right, nor of wealth, but of virtue.(23)
The emblematic character is Moses, who embodies all the dignities of a superior being,
endowed with natural and acquired qualities (Mos. 1. 21-22). Man extremely handsome
(I.9) he received the education and the cares of a king (I.8). He has a wide and rich
culture, knowing encyclical sciences which he learnt from the Greeks, the assyrian
language, astrology which was taught him by the Chaldeans, Judaic tradition (I.32).(24)
The image of an ordered society ruled by a superior individual who brings God's law to
the men is,of course, a sort of ideal model. Moses is the example of every virtue, display
of the word of God, leader of the people, shepherd of the sheeps which he leads away from
transgression (Sacrif. 50), teacher who with his same aspect, his same being
present points to a way of acting. Likewise, Joseph, while in the jail of Pharaoh times
the worst criminals, teaches to everybody just by his moderation and gentleness.
3. The relation among the various steps of knowledge
For reaching the heights of knowledge and wisdom a study is necessary, the study of
sciences and arts which constitute a step towards the most important subject , superior to
all the other forms of knowledge and wisdom. Such sciences and arts form the enkyklios
paideia and they are a sort of servants of the philosophy(25)
and introduction to virtue.(26) In different passages Philo
gives different enumerations of the encyclia which, anyhow, have hierarchical relations.
They are grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, music, astronomy. They constitute a
basis on which the real philosophical culture is built. In particular, I would like to
stress the importance of such sciences in the construction of a right education. Cong.
18, shows utility of dialectic towards the determination of truth: "Dialectic the
sister and twin, as some have said, of Rhetoric, distinguishes true argument from false,
and convicts the plausibilities of sophistry, and thus will heal that great plague of the
soul, deceit". "Geometry will show in the soul that loves to learn the seeds of
equality and proportion, and by the charm of its logical continuity will raise from those
seeds a zeal for justice" (Cong. 16). "Music will charm away the
unrhytmic by its rhythm, the inharmonious by its harmony, the unmelodious and tuneless by
its melody, and thus reduce discord to concord" (Cong. 16). and about
astronomy: "For just as heaven, being the best and greatest of created hings, may be
rightly called the king of the world of our senses, so the knowledge of heaven which the
star gazers and the Chaldeans especially pursue, may be called the queen of the
sciences" (Cong. 50).
Encyclical studies are a sort of premise to higher knowledge, they occupy an
intermediate position between opinion and wisdom: "and indeed just as the school
subjects (ta enkyklia) contribute to the acquirement of philosophy, so does philosophy to
the getting of wisdom. For philosophy is the practice or study of wisdom, and wisdom is
the knowledge of things divine and human and their causes. And therefore just as the
culture of the schools (the enkyklios mousike) is the bond-servant of philosophy, so must
philosophy be the servant of wisdom" (Cong. 79-80).
So philosophy is like a bridge between the disciplines and wisdom, a bridge towards the
attainment of the knowledge of the truth and the acquisition of the right relationship
with the Law. As A. Mendelson(27) maintains, "the
process of abstraction begins when students of the encyclia appropriate parts of the
sense-world (as in Cong. 144). As one's studies continue, the disciplines become
more stuctured. Finally, questions of definition arise. At precisely that point, the
encyclical disciplines reach their limits on the ascending epistemological scale, and
philosophy enters." As Philo repeatedly says, disciplines are at an inferior degree
in regard with philosophy, even if they constitute a useful way to reach superior
knowledge related to philosophy and to virtues: "we give the name of knowledge to
philosophy and the other virtues, and that of men of knowledge to those who possess these
virtues" (Cong. 142). So, while encyclical disciplines are tied to conjecture
and probability, philosophy aims to the truth which -we have seen- coincide with the Law
set by God. If, on one side, it is advisable to study the encyclia prior to philosophy,(28)
on the other side, an exclusive study of encyclia which wouldn't approach to the study of
philosophy would be greatly wrong and would lead to improper beliefs about human greatness
and dependence from God.(29)
4. The search for truth implies felicity
"Nothing is better than to search for the true God, even if the discovery of him
eludes human capacity, since the very wish to learn, if earnestly entertained, produces
untold joys and pleasures. We have the testimony of those who have not taken a mere sip of
philosophy but have feasted more abundantly on its reasonings and conclusions. [...]
Though the clear vision of God as He relly is is denied us, we ought not to relinquish the
quest. For the very seeking, even without finding, is felicity in itself."
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