„Wissensethik“ versus „Willensethik“. Zu Walter F. Ottos Sokrates Vorlesungen
“The ethic of knowledge” vs. “the ethic of will” in Walter F. Otto’s Socrates Lectures

Summary/Abstract: The author, researcher at the “Oriental Institute” of Napoli, aims to bring new data and analysis about one of the most influential German historian, philologist and thinker, Walter F. Otto, a very respected name in the field of the history of Greek religion in the first half of 20th century. He discusses here the topic of his German lectures on Socrates thought in a difficult, but very rich period of his career and life (1940-1958), having access to his unpublished writings preserved in the “Deutschen Literaturarchiv”, Marbach. Greek religion and thought are seen equally as crucial for the understanding of ancient Mediterranean religious movements and as a paradigm often structured by the very interpretation of Socrates’ figure. All the relevant material still accessible is carefully examined, and a future critical edition of it is finally foreseen.

• Details
• Contents