The Concept of Schole Leisure as a Political End

by Kalimtzis, Kostas

• ISBN13: 9781474237932
• ISBN10: 1474237932
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-11-03
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

between the two. Leisure, derived from Latin licere, has its roots in Roman otium and connotes the uses of free time in ways permitted by the status quo. Scholê is the actualization of mind and one's humanity within a republic that devotes its culture to making such a choice possible. This volume traces the background in Greek culture and the writings of Plato of a daring proposal presented by Aristotle, that scholê is a principle for political organization.

The concept of scholê by and large did not survive Aristotle. To sharpen our understanding of scholê the book goes on to identify the concepts of leisure which we have inherited from the intellectuals of the Hellenistic and Roman empires and the early Church Fathers. Scholê also had its contrary ascholia – busyness – which Plato described as a social and psychological pathology and his analysis suggests why, due to these ills, current visions of a leisure society are highly unlikely.

Author Biography

Kostas Kalimtzis is Lecturer in Ancient Greek Philosophy at Arcadia University, USA, and an Honorary Research Associate at the Hellenic Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Sisyphus or Scholê?
Chapter 2: Scholê and the Search for Truth
Chapter 3: Play and Scholê
Chapter 4: Aristotle: On the Nature of Scholê
Chapter 5: The Practicality of Scholê
Chapter 6: Hellenistic Leisure: Theoria and Refinement in the Palace
Chapter 7: Seneca's Otium: The Source for Western Concepts of Leisure
Chapter 8 Christian Filters for an Ethical System of Leisure, East and West
Chapter 9: Modernity
Epilogue: Reflections on the Relevance of Scholê