Alexander of Aphrodisias: A source of origen's philosophy?

Abstract

Alexander of Aphrodisias and Origen are two semi-contemporary philosophers and teachers of philosophy who composed the same kinds of works. Origen was a Christian philosopher, a disciple of Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus' teacher. It is very probable that Origen knew Alexander of Aphrodisias' works, which were read at the school of Plotinus, and drew inspiration from them. Many clues support my hypothesis. For instance, Origen's in its structure was probably inspired by Alexander's homonymous work. The expression very interestingly, was used for the first time exactly by Alexander and Origen ; the latter very probably imported it from the philosophical debate on the eternity of the world into Christian Trinitarian theology. The notion of hypostasis as «individual substance», which becomes technical in Origen and will exert an enormous influence on Christian Trinitarian theology, was present in Middle Platonists and medical theorists of the early imperial age who are very likely to have inspired Origen, and possibly also in Alexander. Also, Origen seems to have modified the Stoic doctrine of mixture in a way that comes closer to Alexander and his criticism of that doctrine. The concepts of and in Origen are clearly influenced by Aristotle and probably by Alexander too. Both the presentation and the refutation of Stoic determinism are very similar in Alexander and Origen. The doctrine of God as Intellect and the whole characterisation of God in Alexander is remarkably similar to that which is found in Origen and is almost sure to have exerted some influence on him. The doctrine of the soul and its existence in a body and the doctrine of the Ideas also reveal impressive parallels in our two philosophers. The contribution of the present research to (hopefully) advancing scholarship also helps to cast light on Origen's relation to Greek philosophy, which is the object of critical debate.