Hellenic and Alexandrian Philosophy

Abstract

In this chapter we look briefly at examples of Neoplatonic, Hellenic, and Alexandrian philosophy. These are some of the earliest ways in which thought posits the experience of life and death as the truth of what is and what is not. They also mark the beginning of thought trying to understand its own principle within these shapes of life and death. The Hellenic philosophers sought to avoid negation and unrest, but the work of this avoidance accompanied the tranquillity they prized so highly. The Alexandrian philosophers began to think in triadic terms about ways in which error might be educative, and they therefore began to speak of error as culture.