Elsa Bouchard

Okeanos is at once a mythological figure and a philosophical concept appearing in many ancient accounts of the world. A frequent object of allegoresis, his cosmological role and his name posed an enigma to Homer’s readers, especially those with a rationalizing bent. This paper proposes that the paradoxical representation of Okeanos as a primordial generative power and a geographical limit may be explained by the influence of etymological speculation, which was a popular heuristic method used by Greek intellectuals from the archaic period throughout antiquity.

A new assessment of Aristotle Politics 3.11 shows that most of the arguments contained in this chapter are strictly analogical and should not be granted too much weight in Aristotle’s overall conception of popular government. A close analysis of the four analogies used by Aristotle to illustrate the so-called “wisdom of the many” brings to light both the negative and the positive conclusions allowed by this chapter, the following in particular: 1) the partial inclusion of the people in government decisions is desirable insofar as the people are affected by these decisions; 2) the people’s judgements are most qualified in some areas of political life, such as the audit of the magistrates; 3) the optimal distribution of power in the political community is made in accordance with the relative merits of all its members.