Hypatie d'Alexandrie
Mathematician and philosopher, head of the school of Alexandria.
Hypatie d'Alexandrie (IVe-Ve s. apr. J.-C., Alexandria, in Roman Egypt) : neoplatonism. Hypatia taught philosophy in Alexandria, in the tradition of Plato and Plotinus, and students came from far away to hear her. She was murdered in 415 by a band of fanatical Christians, led by a church reader named Peter, in the middle of a political struggle between the prefect Orestes and bishop Cyril. On AskPhilosophy: 0 reconstructed argument, 3 quotes checked word for word against the original texts, and 4 common beliefs examined; every text carries an authenticity badge (written by the author, posthumous, student notes, reported, apocryphal).
Why this page has no argument
On this site, an argument is a demonstration the philosopher defended, with premises tied to her texts. For Hypatia there is no text. Socrates Scholasticus says she explained "all the philosophical sciences" and belonged to the line of Plato and Plotinus: that gives no thesis. Synesius, her pupil, writes her letters (business, health, mourning, a request for an instrument, opinions on his own books), but never sums up what she thinks. Inventing a doctrine from these clues would make her say what we want. We chose to leave the arguments tab and the radar empty, and to explain why. Scholars attribute to her commentaries on mathematics (on Diophantus, on Apollonius' Conics, on an astronomical canon), according to the Byzantine dictionary the Suda: those books are lost and the Suda is not in our corpus.
Three witnesses, three views
Synesius of Cyrene (c. 370-413) is her pupil and friend: seven of his letters are addressed to her, in her lifetime (six are in our corpus). He is the only witness who knew her, but he speaks only of himself and of their friendship. Socrates Scholasticus, a Christian lawyer in Constantinople, writes c. 440, twenty-five years after the murder: he praises her, judges the murder foreign to the spirit of Christ and says it brought shame on Cyril; he is also close to the Novatians, Christians whom Cyril had fought. John, bishop of Nikiu, writes c. 690, nearly three centuries later, for Cyril and against her: he makes her a sorceress and approves the murder, since he ends by showing the people acclaiming Cyril for destroying "the last remains of idolatry". None of the three is neutral in Alexandria's religious conflict, and each excerpt on this page says who is speaking.
How to read her here
"Transmitted by others" marks Socrates Scholasticus and John of Nikiu; "Text by another author" marks Synesius, who writes to her. Socrates' Greek is from Hussey's 1853 edition; the other texts are in older English translations (Zenos 1890, Fitzgerald 1926, Charles 1916), for lack of free Greek or French in our corpus. When we give a French translation it is ours, and we say so. Synesius' letters are numbered as on Wikisource (Fitzgerald).
His positions
click a row to see the evidenceSynesius speaks of her "divine spirit", and John of Nikiu, hostile, calls her "pagan": these are third parties' judgements about her, not her words. No text says what she believed about God. We do not score this axis.
Socrates Scholasticus says she explained "all the philosophical sciences" in the line of Plato and Plotinus. That places her school, not her thesis on the source of knowledge. We do not score this axis.
Synesius submits a book to her saying she is able to judge it, and allows that, like Aristotle, she may prize truth above friendship. It praises her judgement; it is not a position on certainty. We do not score this axis.
No testimony on mind and body. We do not score this axis.
No testimony on free will. We do not score this axis.
No text says whether she saw the good as objective. We do not score this axis.
She is killed in a conflict between Christians and pagans, but no witness reports what she said of faith and reason. We do not score this axis.
Synesius, in mourning, writes that he counts her as "the only good thing that remains inviolate, along with virtue". That is his own feeling. We do not score this axis.
No testimony. We do not score this axis.
Socrates Scholasticus says she appeared in public before the magistrates and often saw the prefect Orestes, which fed a slander. Synesius asks her to use her influence for friends. That shows she carried weight, not what she thought about society. We do not score this axis.
Socrates Scholasticus praises her "virtue" and self-control without setting out a moral theory. We do not classify this axis.