Viviana Félix

Justin is considered one of the main representatives of the dialogue between Christianity and Philosophy in the Graeco-Roman world. He gathered his philosophical ideas from the different contemporary schools, particularly from the Platonic school. Though he shows a receptive attitude towards Greek philosophy, his reception was not uncritical but selective. His philosophical ideas are scattered in the two only works preserved until today and unanimously considered authentic: Apology and Dialogue with Trypho.

Our project intends to collect, to order and scrutinize Justin’s contribution to the philosophical discussion of his time with a view to organizing and systematizing his philosophical thought. Once so far we will ponder the influences at work in his thought paying special attention to Middle Platonism, but taking also into consideration the Christian and Jewish elements. It is at this point that we will be able to provide a proper answer to the question regarding Justin’s intellectual formation, something that has a bearing both on Justin’s thought and his very conception of Philosophy.

Objective:

First, gathering and presenting the essentials of Justin Martyr’s philosophy in order to systematize his contributions to the culture of his time. Second, individualize the sources of his philosophical thinking. And finally, determine the specificity of his notion of philosophy. The methodology used is the historical-critical method and the philological method.

Supervisor: Prof. dr. Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta