Post-Hellenistic Philosophy: A Study in Its Development from the Stoics to Origen

by George Boys-Stones

This book traces, for the first time, a revolution in philosophy which took place during the early centuries of our era. It reconstructs the philosophical basis of the Stoics' theory that fragments of an ancient and divine wisdom could be reconstructed from mythological traditions, and shows that Platonism was founded on an argument that Plato had himself achieved a full reconstruction of this wisdom, and that subsequent philosophies had only regressed once again in their attempts to "improve" on his achievement.

252 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 2001

Reviews

[Raymund Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A curious book that seeks to string together the various claims to an older philosophical tradition rooted in a primitive or primordial religious expression. It helps put the pieces together and show the parallel challenges and solutions proposed by pagans, Jews, and Christians for squaring religious texts with philosophical texts. I found it very useful for preparing lectures on Middle Platonism.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work is a bit technical. I found myself out of my depth mostly because I don't have enough familiarity with all the schools and teachers. I did get some insights into the various schools and philosophers.

It probably deserves another star but I was unable to give it.