CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE IDEA OF ENMITY IN EARLY GREEK PLURALISTS AND SOPHISTS: FROM THE HEAVENLY TO THE EARTHLY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/2520-6397.2025.2.14Keywords:
enmity, early Greek philosophy, ancient Greek literature, sophists, pluralists, political philosophy, classical philologyAbstract
The article examines the conceptualization of enmity in the works of early Greek pluralists and sophists, emphasizing its philosophical, social, and rhetorical dimensions. It is demonstrated that enmity in the thought of thinkers such as Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Antiphon, Gorgias, and Thrasymachus is not merely an expression of personal hostility but a structural component of cosmological, ethical, and political discourse.
Empedocles’ cosmogonic model, in which Strife i.e. Enmity (Νεῖκος) and Love (Φιλία) shape the formation and dissolution of the cosmos, is analyzed in comparison with Anaxagoras’ interpretation of separation and ordering through Nous (νοῦς, Intellect). It is argued that both thinkers reflect the ancient Greek understanding of opposition as a dynamic force governing reality. The study of sophistic texts highlights how enmity was adapted into legal and rhetorical argumentation, particularly in Antiphon’s critique of law as being "hostile to nature" (πολέμια τῇ φύσει) and in Thrasymachus’ reflections on power and inequality.
The research reveals that enmity in early Greek thought functioned both as a cosmic principle and a societal phenomenon, forming the foundation for later philosophical and political theories. The philological analysis of key terms such as Νεῖκος, ἐχθρός, πολέμιος, underscores the conceptual fluidity of enmity across different intellectual traditions. Ultimately, the study contributes to the understanding of how ancient thinkers viewed conflict not as an anomaly but as an essential mechanism of order, shaping ethical and political thought from the archaic to the classical periods.
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