Ethics in Ancient Greek Literature: Aspects of Ethical Reasoning from Homer to Aristotle and Beyond

Description

Interpretation of ancient Greek literature is often enough distorted by the preconceptions of modern times, especially on ancient morality. This is often equivalent to begging the question. If we think e.g. of aretê, which has different meanings in different contexts, we shall think in English (or in Modern Greek or in French or in German) and shall falsify the phenomena. If we are to understand the Greek concept e.g. of aretê we must study the nature of the situations in which it is applied. For it is an important fact in the study of Greek society that the Greeks used the one word (e.g. aretê) where we use different words. If we are to understand properly the texts, we have to view them in their historical and social context. Ancient Greek thought needs to be studied together with politics, ethics, and economic behaviour. Moreover, the best insights can be found in those who confine themselves to the terms of each ancient author's analysis. From this principle each of the contributions of the volume begins. Preface Contents Introduction Ethics in Ancient Greek Literature from Homer to Aristotle Ad honorem Ioannis N. Perysinakis’ Intellectual Adventure Part I: Homeric Ethics The Friendships of Achilles and the Killing of Lykaon Part II: Ethics in Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle An Odd Episode in Platonic Interpretation: Changing the Law in Plato’s Laws Aristotle on the Legal and Moral Aspects of Law Natural Inclination to Ethics in Aristotle Part III: Tragedy Ethics Phaedra’s Fantasy Other: Phenomenology and the Enactive Mind in Euripides’ Hippolytus Greek Tragedy and the Ethics of Revenge Part IV: Oratorical Ethics Lysias and his Clients: Money, Ethics and Politics Moral and Social Values in the Speeches of Isaios Part V: Ethical Particulars Fear and Anxiety: The View from Ancient Greece Part VI: Reception Educational Travels and Epicurean Prokoptontes: Vergil’s Aeneas as an Epicurean Telemachus I.N. Perysinakis’ List of Publications List of Contributors Index Locorum Index Nominum Index Rerum