Zorba, Socrates, and the good life

Filozofija I Društvo 22 (1):193-206 (2011)
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Abstract

How should one live in order to live well? What are the defining characteristics of the good life? These questions - the perennial concern of classical scholars - have in the last 25 years become the subject of debates in contemporary social and political theory as well. Foucault, Taylor, Kekes, Cottingham and Nehamas have all stressed the importance of the?art of living? or?caring for the self? in light of contemporary political and economic developments. This article, as my contribution to the debate, offers the analysis of two models of the?good life?: the one as presented by Plato and embodied in the literary character of Socrates, and the other as presented by Nikos Kazantzakis and embodied in the literary figure of Zorba. In general terms, Socrates advocates the rule of reason and the denigration and submission of the bodily Eros, while Zorba remains suspicious of the mind -?a careful little shopkeeper? - and stresses the significance of bodily experiences as ways of linking oneself with the rest of the universe. Hence in the article I formulate an ethic of sensual Eros by focusing on Zorba?s way of life and contrast it to the Socratic ethics. I conclude that the concern and respect for the body, for the house in which Eros dwells, is the necessary a priori for the living of the good life. This way of life is not one that rejects reason altogether, but what it does reject is the desire of reason to monopolize the individual?s life processes. Kako treba da se zivi da bi se zivjelo dobro? Sto su sustinske osobine dobrog zivota? Ova pitanja - kojima se teoreticari grcko-rimske filozofije vec odavno bave - postala su u poslednjih 25 godina i predmet debata u savremenoj drustvenoj i politickoj teoriji. Fuko, Tejlor, Kekes, Kotingham i Nehamas samo su najvazniji od onih koji su insistirali na vaznosti?umjetnosti zivljenja? ili?brige za sopstvo? u svjetlu savremenih politickih i ekonomskih desavanja. Ovaj rad, moj doprinos toj debati, nudi analizu dva modela?dobrog zivota?: jedan koji je predstavio Platon kroz svog knjizevnog junaka Sokrata i drugi koji je predstavio Nikos Kazantzakis kroz svog knjizevnog junaka Zorbu. Opste govoreci, Sokrat zastupa vladavinu razuma i unizavanje i potcinjenost tjelesnog Erosa, dok je Zorba pun sumnji vis-?-vis razuma -?tog pazljivog sitnog trgovca? - i instistira na vaznosti tjelesnih iskustava kao nacina za povezivanje sopstva sa ostatkom svijeta. Stoga u radu formulisem etiku sensualnog Erosa baziranu na Zorbinom nacinu zivota i uporedjujem je za Sokratovom etikom. Moj zakljucak je da je briga i uvazavanje tijela, kao kuce u kojoj Eros zivi, neophodan a priori za zivljenje dobrog zivota. Ovakav nacin zivota ne znaci odbacivanje razuma, ali znaci odbacivanje zelje razuma da monopolizuje sve zivotne procese pojedinca.

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