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2021 - Volume 5 - Number 2

Some Remarks on Musical Symbolism of Philo’s Hermeneutics in “De Posteritate Caini”

Georgi Shavulev * shavuleff@abv.bg * ORCID: 0000-0002-3007-2924
South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Faculty of Philosophy, Blagoevgrad, BULGARIA

Open Journal for Studies in Philosophy, 2021, 5(2), 63-70 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsp.0502.03063s
Received: 21 November 2021 ▪ Accepted: 27 December 2021 ▪ Published Online: 31 December 2021

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
Philo of Alexandria can hardly be called a philosopher, especially given a certain speculative or systematic philosophy. But also, contrary to the prevailing opinion in contemporary research, it could hardly be defined as an exegete, especially given the modern content of the term. At the same time, the impression remains that the most often associated concept with his name – allegory (allegorical interpretation) is usually perceived too narrowly, and not enough attention is paid to the actual literary and hermeneutical skills of the author. Modern translations of his works often do not reflect the symbolism used by Philo at all, as is the case with music imagery in the opening paragraph of De Posteritate Caini. The musical theme and symbolism in Philo's work undoubtedly deserve a special and thorough study, which would go far beyond the scope of this article.

KEY WORDS: Philo of Alexandria, allegorical hermeneutics, musical symbolism.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Georgi Shavulev, South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Philosophical and Political Sciences, Blagoevgrad, BULGARIA. E-mail: shavuleff@abv.bg.

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