On May 19, 22, and 23, at the Ligamus bookstore, Savle Tsereteli Institute of Philosophy is organizing a public lectures of Prof. Dr. Johan Tralau (University of Upsala) on the origins of political and moral philosophy in ancient Greek philosophy and literature.
Prof. Dr. Johan Tralau (University of Upsala, Sweden) is visiting Ilia State University through the Erasmus+ program of the European Union. His research focuses on the birth of political philosophy in ancient Greece. In 2013, the Swedish Academy awarded him the Johan Lundblad Prize in classical philology and ancient history.
Lecture Time and Annotation
19 th Mai, 15:00, Ligamus
The Beginnings of Political and Moral Philosophy I: A point of departure in Plato, and then backward, to Homer and the Hittite Gilgamesh
In this first lecture, we look for the beginnings of political and moral philosophy. I argue that it can be
found in the advent of ‘internal critique’, a set of techniques of rational argumentation akin to, yet not
the same as, those employed by Plato. Internal critique implies, I suggest, an attempt to refute a
standpoint ‘from within’, most often based on the premises of the interlocutor’s own argument. But was
this form of thinking there from the very beginning? Probing Homer’s Iliad and the Hittite Gilgamesh
fragments, I make the case that such argumentation cannot be found in these very early Greek and
Anatolian sources. This implies that internal critique should be understood as an intellectual and
historical innovation. We will need to look for its origin in other places and later times.
22nd Mai, 17:00, Ligamus
The Beginnings of Political and Moral Philosophy II: Why Aischylos’ Oresteia may be more important than Protagoras
In the second lecture, we search for internal critique in early Greek literature. I contend that some of the
early poets, Theognis and Sappho, are important phases in a history of ‘internal critique’, and that this
is, in all likelihood, likewise true of the 5th century BC philosopher and sophist Protagoras. Yet the
testimonies and fragments are contradictory and uncertain when it comes to Protagoras. This is,
however, not true of the Athenian dramatist Aischylos. I suggest that his Oresteia, staged in 458 BC,
features the very first instance in extant Greek literature in which a character tells another person that
his or her argumentation is logically inconsistent. The trilogy is full of blood, revenge, murder, human
sacrifice and immorality. Yet it is also a spectacular moment in the history of normative theory, of
political, moral and legal reflection, as well as in the evolution of theoretical terminology.
23rd Mai, 17:00, Ligamus
The Beginnings of Political and Moral Philosophy III: Sophokles’ Elektra and the anatomy of normative theory
In the third lecture, we move forward in time, to a text that is arguably the culmination of pre-Platonic
argumentation about morality and politics. On the way, I mention the historian Herodotos, the orator
Thrasymachos, the tragic poet Euripides, and Sokrates. Yet the pinnacle is arguably to be found in ca.
410 BC, when Sophokles’ Elektra was staged. Plato was probably a teenager at the time (he had
probably at best just recently been allowed to compete in the adult class in wrestling). Yet Sophokles
presents us with the kind of refutation that we typically associate with Plato. In a vibrant debate about
murder and revenge, he lets Elektra refute a certain argument pertaining to retaliatory killing. This is a
striking case of internal critique. Moreover, Sophokles seems to make a conceptual suggestion,
proposing a term – Greek nomos, typically ‘law’ – in order to identify the concept of a normative
principle. All this suggests that 5 th century BC poetry is fundamental in the evolution of Greek political
and moral philosophy, and that we need to rediscover the early history of philosophical terminology and
normative argument.
Working language: English
Location: Ilia State University, Book House “Ligamus”, Chavchavadze Ave. N32
Attendance is free.
2025