Philosophical Writings

Author(s): Hemant Shah
Publisher: Academy of Philosophy

Page 44

Logos In Philosophy, Religion and Science
nature and is in 'conformity to nature.' "The world of material nature is the sole reality; but it is not dead matter. It is a living being, informed by a rational soul -it is God. This soul of the world, the Logos, or rational principle is everywhere present as a more active and subtle kind of matter..... "Tertullian says that, according to Zeno, God runs through the material world as honey runs through a honeycomb. According to Diogenes Laertius, Zeno held that the General Law, which is Right Reason, pervading everything, is the same as the Zeus, the Supreme Head of the government of the universe; God, Mind, Destiny, Zeus are one thing.27 The whole concept is in accordance with and in agreement to Heraclitus' concept of Logos. Logos doctrine "is a capital element in the system of the Stoics. With their teleological views of the world they naturally predicted an active principle pervading it and determining it. This operative principle is called both Logos and God."
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(C) Philo Judaeus (20 ? BC 54? AD). Philo was a contemporary of Christ. Though he was orthodox in religion, he was a Platonist in philosophy. He was much impressed and influenced by the Stoics andNeo-pythagoreans. Philo's doctrine is the outcome of three forces - Platonism, Stoicism and Judaism. Before we note Philo's doctrine of Logos, let us briefly indicate the nature of the problem that Philo was dealing with.
Scriptures already described the conception of God and asserted that God is unknowable, God is supersensual and has no qualities, he can only be apprehended through revelation. This is what the scriptures said, running counter to all philosophical traditions of Greece. In Greek philosophy Reason is regarded as Divine and is identified with Truth, Beauty and Goodness. In order to overcome these apparently inseparable difficulties, "Philo resorts to what was in fact nothing but a trick: taking advantage of the polysemy of the Greek term Logos meaning both Law and Word, he identifies the rational principle of the universe, the law of nature becomes God's word enabling Philo to reconcile, as if by magic, the Scriptures and Hellenistic philosophy, mystic revelation and inquisitive thought."29