Philosophers on Marriage: An Aspect of Ancient Classical Greek Thought on Economics
Keywords:
Aristote, corps, mariage, oikos, Platon, XénophonAbstract
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.
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