On the Autodidaxía and the Autárkeia of Epicurus

nº2 (january, 2009) • Archai: As Origens do Pensamento Ocidental

Autor: Miguel Spinelli

Resumo:

The problem to be discussed in this paper is what it could have meant, in Epicurus’ words, to call oneself "autodidact" (without master), a term which in various philosophers (as in Phytagoras, Heraclitus, Democritus and, in particular, in Socrates) is applied in a similar sense. As will be shown, with regard to Epicurus, autodidaxía has various meanings: a) the philosophical area within which the proper doctrine is made and conceived; b) the requirement of originality in one’s own thinking; c) that knowledge of oneself is without a master, as is also well-doing in moral acting; d) that self-knowledge requires autárkeia; e) that Epicurus, in this respect, cannot be separated from Socrates.

 

Texto Completo: http://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/325/180

Palavras-Chave: Epicurus,autodidaxía,autárkeia,self-knowledge

Archai: As Origens do Pensamento Ocidental

Archai: Journal on the origins of Ancient Thought is published three times a year by Archai UNESCO Chair (University of Brasilia, Brazil).

It is published in Brazil (University of Brasília/Annablume) and in Portugal (Coimbra University Press, IUC), both printed and electronic free online access.

All manuscripts will undergo blind-review by peers.

Archai Journal is committed to a speedy and author-friendly review process; Authors can expect to receive notification the editorial decision within four months.

It is indexed by Web of Science - ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index), SciELO, European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH Plus), L’Année Philologique, Philosopher‘s Index, DOAJ, Phil Brasil, Latindex, Cengage Learning, Google Schoolar, BASE, Diadorim, PKP Index and Portal de Periódicos da CAPES. It has Impact Factor 5.171 in the Scientific Journal Impact Factor and it got the second best grade (A2) of its field (Philosophy) in the latest Qualis CAPES evaluation.