Aesara

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Aesara of Lucania ( Greek Αἰσάρα Aisara ; 4th or 3rd century BC) was a Pythagorean philosopher and author of On Human Nature , a fragment of which has been preserved in Stobaeus .

Life

Aesara is only known from a one-page fragment of her philosophical work entitled On Human Nature , which was received from Stobaeus. Her hometown Lucania was an ancient district of southern Italy and part of the Magna Graecia , where many Pythagorean communities existed. Aesara is counted among the Pythagoreans who were expelled from Crotona in the 5th century BC. Lived scattered across the country. It is believed that her name is a modification of the name Aresa, who, according to a tradition not shared by the majority society, was a daughter of Pythagoras and Theano .

plant

About human nature is in the for the time up to the 3rd century BC. Written characteristic Doric prose, although it cannot be ruled out that the work was written in an archaic style at a later date. Claims that the fragment was a Neo-Pythagorean forgery from the Roman era, which would at least imply that there must have been an earlier Pythagorean philosopher named Aesara of Lucania worth copying, or that the fragment was a pseudo-epigraphic script in a textbook of one of the realigned successor schools of Archytas of Taranto in Italy in the 4th or 3rd century BC Was created, are considered not to be proven.

Aesara argues that one can understand the philosophical basis of natural law and morality by studying one's own human nature (and especially the human soul):

Human nature seems to me to have served as a model for law and justice, both in the individual house and in the city.

Aesara divides the soul into three parts: the mind that makes judgments and carries out thinking, the spirit that contains courage and strength, and the desire that produces love and kindness:

As it is threefold, it is organized into three functions: that which causes judgment and reflection [the mind], that which effects strength and agency [the spirit], and that which causes love and kindness which does that Desire is.

These things, which are divine, represent the rational, mathematical, and functional principles at work in the soul. Aesara's theory of natural law concerns three areas of application of morality, which are the individual, the family and the social institutions.

The Pythagoreans were known as a community for accepting women into their ranks. However, this does not necessarily correspond to modern ideas of equality; they believed that women were responsible for creating harmony and justice in the home, just as men had an equal responsibility to the state. Seen in this context, Aesara's natural law theory is fundamental to justice and harmony in society as a whole.

See also

credentials

  • Plant Ian: Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology . Ed .: Equinox. 2004, ISBN 1-904768-02-4 (American English).
  • Waithe Mary Ellen: A History of Women Philosophers: Volume I: Ancient Women Philosophers, 600 BC – 500 AD . Ed .: Springer. 1987, ISBN 90-247-3368-5 (American English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stobaeus, i. 49. 27
  2. ↑ Aesara of Lucania (fl. 400s – 300s BCE) | Encyclopedia.com .
  3. ↑ Plant 2004 pp. 81-82
  4. ↑ Plant 2004 pp. 72, 81-82
  5. ↑ Waithe 1987, p. 68
  6. ↑ Waithe 1987, pp. 61-62
  7. ↑ Waithe 1987, pp. 63-65
  8. ↑ Waithe 1987, pp. 72-73; Plant 2004 pp. 81-82
  9. ↑ Waithe 1987, p. 19
  10. ↑ Waithe 1987, p. 22; Plant 2004 pp. 81-82
  11. ↑ Waithe 1987, p. 19
  12. ↑ Waithe 1987, p. 25
personal data
SURNAME Aesara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lucania, Aesara from (full name); Aisara; Αἰσάρα (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pythagorean philosopher and author
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.