<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

According to an old legend, during the Messenian Wars in Laconia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, the Athenians sent the poet Tyrtaeus to the Spartans who were close to being defeated; he aroused in them the fighting spirit and renewed Spartan virtues. Philosophers in antiquity believed in the psychagogical power of the word, and this belief provided the foundation for ancient ethical literature, whose main purpose was to call for a spiritual transformation and to convert to philosophy. In this paper, I would like to demonstrate what tradition philosophy referred to in these efforts; what concept of man supported that belief; finally, what literary genres were used by ancient philosophers in ethics.
</abstract>

According to an old legend, during the Messenian Wars in Laconia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, the Athenians sent the poet Tyrtaeus to the Spartans who were close to being defeated; he aroused in them the fighting spirit and renewed Spartan virtues. Philosophers in antiquity believed in the psychagogical power of the word, and this belief provided the foundation for ancient ethical literature, whose main purpose was to call for a spiritual transformation and to convert to philosophy. In this paper, I would like to demonstrate what tradition philosophy referred to in these efforts; what concept of man supported that belief; finally, what literary genres were used by ancient philosophers in ethics.

The moral power of the word: Ethical literature in Antiquity

Ethics & Bioethics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The moral power of the word: Ethical literature in Antiquity"}

According to an old legend, during the Messenian Wars in Laconia in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, the Athenians sent the poet Tyrtaeus to the Spartans who were...

The moral power of the word: Ethical literature in Antiquity

Published Online: Dec 12, 2020

Page range: 107 - 115

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2020-0012

Keywords
Plato, dialogues, ancient rhetoric, literary genres

© 2020 Przemysław Paczkowski, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The moral power of the word: Ethical literature in Antiquity

Published Online: Dec 12, 2020

Page range: 107 - 115

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ebce-2020-0012

KeywordsPlato, dialogues, ancient rhetoric, literary genres

© 2020 Przemysław Paczkowski, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Plato, dialogues, ancient rhetoric, literary genres