Epicurean Transmission Or Parádosis, Between The Protreptikós Lógos And The Paraínesis

At the beginning of the Letter to Menoeceus can be interpreted as a protreptikós lógos. However, the rest of the letter conforms to the pattern of parainesis which is the series of advice that a Master offered to his disciples, who had adhered to his philosophical school. Following this standpoint,...

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Autor principal: Navarro, Jorge Fernando
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Facultad de Humanidades UNCo 2023
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Acceso en línea:https://revele.uncoma.edu.ar/index.php/filosofia/article/view/5550
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Sumario:At the beginning of the Letter to Menoeceus can be interpreted as a protreptikós lógos. However, the rest of the letter conforms to the pattern of parainesis which is the series of advice that a Master offered to his disciples, who had adhered to his philosophical school. Following this standpoint, Epicurus reminds Menoeceus of the exercise of the way of life he had chosen and the schemes (týpoi) of philosophy. This article intends to show that in the Letter to Menoeceus, both protreptikós lógos and paraínesis work as forms of transmission. By the analysis of the passages in which Epicurus refers that human beings must discover the end of nature (tò tês phýseos télos), which consists in knowing that good things (tò tón agathón péras) have a limit as well as the painful ones. The best-known formula of Epicurean ethics will also be analyzed, often called in secondary literature the tetraphármakos (quadruple medicine): “God presents no fears, death no worries. And while good is readily attainable, evil is readily endurable.” The aim of the research will be to point out that for Epicurus, the greatest source of pleasure (hedoné) is the virtue of practical wisdom (phrónesis). Connected to this, I argue that the Epicurean transmission (parádosis) used the protreptic (protreptikós lógos) and parenetic (paraínesis) discourse to urge the disciples the cultivation of phrónesis.