O exercício do silêncio como terapia da alma na filosofia de Plutarco

Abstract

Although Plutarch's Chaeronaea (45-125 AD) has not written a treatise exclusively devoted to silence, an examination of his work reveals that the subject has received special attention by the philosopher, which leads us to undertake here an investigation about how the theme of silence It appears in ethical reflection that develops in his treatises. The polysemy of silence, as well as the different reasons for his apology, may be found in two collections of texts in which his work was formed. The theme of silence figure in both treatises that constitute the Moralia, a group that is privileged object of attention by the historians of philosophy, as the biographies of Lives. We are interested in examine the various areas in which it is possible to recognize a reflection and apology of silence in order to highlight its place in the search for the good life advocated by Plutarch. In this horizon of the good life, we will intend to show how the philosopher makes the silence appear as a particular ingredient on the therapy concerning soul plagued by passions. In our dissertation, we will examine more closely three treatises of the corpus of moral works of Plutarch, namely On talkativeness, On Listening to lectures, Dinner of the Seven Wise Men, and the Life of Lycurgus at Parallel Lives.