Καὶ καταψεύδου καλῶς: Wagering on divinity in Euripides' Bacchae

Van Schoor, David J

Title: Καὶ καταψεύδου καλῶς: Wagering on divinity in Euripides' Bacchae
Creator: Van Schoor, David J
Subject: To be catalogued
Date Issued: 2021
Date: 2021
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/468490
Identifier: vital:77065
Identifier: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/323/article/807635/summary
Description: In the late work of Euripides, a strong contrast is established between belief in divinity characterized by sincere, affective commitment, and belief that is founded on reasoned calculation. This paper studies this contrast, focussing on Bacchae, Euripides' last surviving work. Two recent approaches to the agency of human subjects and their disposition to evaluate are introduced and compared as models. Charles Taylor's contemporary philosophy of ethics, of will and orders of value is briefly outlined and applied to the situation dramatized by the poet. Subsequently, Stuart Guthrie's cognitive science model of the wager on the presence of divine agents as instrumentally advantageous, is also shown to pertain to an attitude discernible in the tragedy of Pentheus and Dionysus at Thebes. In a work of public theatre, one concerning the complex figure of Dionysus, this endorsement of the quality of sincerity as a condition for validity is significant in the course of Greek religiosity. The widely attested shift to increasing individualism in the Athenian fifth century finds striking expression in the definitive emphasis laid on personal feeling and emotional sincerity in dealings with divinity.
Format: 25 pages
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: Acta Classica
Relation: van Schoor, D., 2021. Καὶ καταψεύδου καλῶς: Wagering on divinity in Euripides' Bacchae. Acta Classica, 64(1), pp.237-262
Relation: Acta Classica volume 64 number 1 237 262 2021
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the publisher

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Van Schoor, David Jude (Dr)

RU School of Languages and Literatures

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