The Prologue to the Narcissus of Hryhorii Skovoroda as a Philosophical Testament
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Date
2015
Authors
Perri, Giuseppe
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Abstract
The article points out the composition and publication of the dialogue Narcissus and its
Prologue, why the figure of Narcissus is for Skovoroda so unusually positive and why it is
connected to the theme of “know thyself.” The article also draws an unprecedented parallelism
between the “sacred narcissism” of Skovoroda and the “heroic frenzies” of Giordano Bruno.
The theoretical meaning of the Narcissus’ figure in Skovoroda’s philosophy is the link between
epistemological idealism, self-love (which is a strong ethical and personal commitment, a love
of own character and fate) and deification. From the ontological point of view, it is suggested
that Skovoroda’s ontology is a Christian Plutarchism: a transformation (by Platonizing and
Christianizing it) of the Stoic individual hegemonic into an ability to grasp the invisible divine, in
a perspective close to St. Augustine. Finally, we find, in Skovoroda’s philosophical testament, an
original synthesis of Latin culture and humanism with modernism and Hesychasm’s spirituality.
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Keywords
Narcissus, know thyself, heroic frenzies, Plutarchism and Stoicism in Skovoroda, Skovoroda and Bruno
Citation
Perri Giuseppe. The Prologue to the Narcissus of Hryhorii Skovoroda as a Philosophical Testament [electronic resource] / Giuseppe Perri // Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal. - 2015. - No. 2. - P. 83–98.