Philosophy - Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
Philosophy
[ 1,,G5385, philosophia ]denotes the love and pursuit of wisdom," hence, "philosophy," the investigation of truth and nature; in Colossians 2:8, the so-called "philosophy" of false teachers. "Though essentially Greek as a name and as an idea, it had found its way into Jewish circles ... Josephus speaks of the three Jewish sects as the "philosophies" ... It is worth observing that this word, which to the Greeks denotes the highest effort of the intellect, occurs here alone in Paul's writings ... the Gospel had deposed the term as inadequate to the higher standard whether of knowledge or of practice, which it had introduced" (Lightfoot).