Ephemerals. The Bliss of the Human Being in Pindar and Plato

Abstract

A joint reading of Pindar’s Pythian 8 and Plato’s Republic 10 is carried out with the purpose of examining the relationships between the ephemeral and the bliss in a human life. The Pindaric poem offers decisive suggestions in order to understand the place of the ephemeral in the human being since it is shown that in middle of precariousness the bliss still can reach the human being. There are reasons to think that the Platonic text follows in some relevant features the Pindaric text. This provides new elements that allow the interpretation of the Myth of Er as the supreme Plato’s poetic gesture. Consequently, a new way of comprehending the relationships between philosophy and poetry can be stated.

Keywords

• Platón
• Píndaro
• filosofía y poesía
• filosofía griega
• lírica griega antigua
• inmortalidad del alma