Polypragmosyne: a Study in Greek Politics
1947; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 67; Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/626781
ISSN2041-4099
Autores Tópico(s)Classical Philosophy and Thought
ResumoΠολυπραγμοσύνη and its opposite ἀπραγμοσύνη are typical abstract nouns of the fifth century, indicating human qualities, comparable to words like δικαιοσύνη and σωφροσύνη. There is, however, one thing peculiar to our two words: they are opposite extremes, but there is nothing between them. There is no πραγμοσύνη. Simple action (πρᾶξις), we may assume, does not easily reveal a man's character. It is only when he acts ‘much’ or ‘not at all,’ that a conclusion can be drawn as to his own nature. The psychological aspect is paramount, more than in words like δικαιοσύνη or σωφροσύνη which also represent an idea. As so frequently happens in psychology, it is the contrast which illuminates either particular quality. We can perhaps go one step further and assume that conceptions like these are more likely than not to spring from a rational and conscious awareness of real phenomena, while for instance δικαιοσύνη, although it is the abstract noun belonging to δίκαιος, at the same time originates from the desire to give a name to the abstract idea which dominates the world of δίκη). There is no ‘idea,’ there are only psychological facts, in ‘busybodiness.’ This ugly and unwieldy English word makes it plain that—at least in English—the concrete rather than the abstract noun belongs to ordinary speech, the man rather than the quality. The ‘busybody’ is indeed a type which, though little loved, is deeply rooted in the English mind, and this is undoubtedly the legitimate translation of πολυπράγμων
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