At the origins of evil
| Autor: | Cusinato, Guido |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| DOI: | 10.13136/thau.v9i1.162 |
| Popis: | In this paper I focus on a passage of Plato���s Laws that so far has been the object of little study (V 731d-732b). In the Laws, the origin of all evil is neither an ontological principle, as in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, nor a simple lack of knowledge (agnoia) or a lack of knowledge combined with the false presumption of knowledge (amathia). Rather, in this passage amathia itself is traced back to ���excessive self-love��� (sphodra heautou philia). I show that this ���excess��� has a specific ���anthropological��� relevance, because it is not limited to the intellectual sphere or to the will, but directly concerns the human way of loving. The thesis that I argue for in this paper is that this ���excess��� is a possibility implicit in the human being qua aplestos, and should therefore be interpreted in an ���anthropological��� sense: it does not indicate a simple ���lack��� of balance, but rather a possibility and a risk to which humans expose themselves when they exceed the homeostatic balance of needs typical of non-human animals. Finally, I trace the various steps of this ���anthropology of excess��� back to its origin: the image of the leaky jar found in the Gorgias. Thaum��zein | Rivista di Filosofia, Vol. 9 No. 1 (2021): Eudaimonia socratica e cura dell���altro | Socratic Eudaimonia and Care for Others |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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