Philosophers on Marriage: An Aspect of Ancient Classical Greek Thought on Economics

Authors

  • Étienne Helmer Université de Porto Rico, San Juan / Porto Rico Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17851/1983-3636.14.2.33-60

Keywords:

Aristote, corps, mariage, oikos, Platon, Xénophon

Abstract

What did the classical Greek philosophers think about domestic economy, and especially about the conjugal relationship as a fundamental dimension of the oikos? The purpose of this paper is to compare the differences and the overlaps on this topic among the philosophers of the Classical Period – Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, and also Pseudo-Aristotle – in their texts that deal with domestic economy. If all of them examine the driving principle of the conjugal union, its nature and its purpose, they do not consider them in the same way. However, all agree, though with notable differences, in understanding this aspect of the domestic economy as a process of building the bodies of the members of the city. Marriage, as an important aspect of domestic economy, is revealed as the mediating institution between the biological sphere and the political sphere.

References

ARISTOTE. Économique. Texte établi par B. A. van Groningen et A. Wartelle, traduit et annoté par A. Wartelle. Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 1968.

BRULÉ, P. L’exposition des enfants en Grèce antique : une forme d’infanticide. Enfances & Psy, Paris, v. 44, n. 3, p. 19-28, 2009.

COX CHERYL, A. Household Interests. Property, Marriage Strategies, and Family Dynamics in Ancient Athens. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1998.

DAMET, A. ; MOREAU, Ph. Famille et société dans le monde grec et en Italie du Ve s. av J.-C. au IIe s. av. J.-C. Paris : Armand Colin, 2017.

DESCAT, R. Aux origines de l’ oikonomia grecque. Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, Roma, N.S. v. 28, n. 1, p. 103-119, 1988.

FOUCAULT, M. L’Histoire de la sexualité. v. 2 : L’usage des plaisirs. Paris : Gallimard. 1984.

HELMER, É. Réévaluer la réflexion grecque sur l’économie: de la science économique à la philosophie de l’économie. Mètis, Paris, N.S. v. 14, p. 187-205, 2016.

HELMER, É. Le remodelage politique de l’oikos dans la République : de la famille au modèle familial, de l’économie domestique à l’économie politique. Plato – The Internet Journal of the International Plato Society, n. 11, s.p. 2011. URL : <http://gramata.univ-paris1.fr/Plato/spip.php?article98> .

KING, C. Musonius Rufus : Lectures and Sayings. Translated with an Introduction by Cynthia King ; edited with a Preface by William B. Irvine. [USA] : CreateSpace, 2011

LESHEM, D. The Ancient art of Economics. The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, v. 21, n. 2, p. 201-229, 2012.

NATALI, C. Oikonomia in Hellenistic Political Thought. In : LAKS, A. ; SCHOFIELD, M. (Ed.). Justice and Generosity: Studies in Hellenistic Social and Political Philosophy Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium Hellenisticum. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1995. p. 95-128.

POMEROY, S. Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves. Women in Classical Antiquity. New York : Schocken Books, 1995 [1975].

SIMPSON, P. A Philosophical Commentary on the Politics of Aristotle. Chapel Hill/London : University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Downloads

Published

2019-02-21

Issue

Section

Dossiê Seminários do NEAM

How to Cite

Philosophers on Marriage: An Aspect of Ancient Classical Greek Thought on Economics. (2019). Nuntius Antiquus, 14(2), 33-60. https://doi.org/10.17851/1983-3636.14.2.33-60