Tragedy and Moral Character. Comments on The Knowledge of Error. Philosophy and Tragedy in Sophocles by Rocío Orsi

Abstract

On the thread of Ariadne driver Rocío Orsi’s book, The Knowledge of error. Philosophy and Tragedy in Sophocles, in this paper I propose a philosophical reflection about the moral character of an agent when is affected by a tragic reading of the world. A central thesis of the book written by Orsi says that the tragic texts of Sophocles have a conceptual value to philosophers not only of the past but of the present. Therefore, I intend to rebuild some of the conceptual features of the tragedies and tragic conflicts. I discuss some ways in which the work of Orsi starts to address the analysis of the tragedies. Then, I try to show what solution tries to give an Aristotelian ethics of prudence. I discuss some theoretical problems that this proposal may have in philosophical domain. Contrary to Steiner and Hertmans, and in favor of the depth of the book written by Orsi, I deny that the literary genre of tragedy is dead. I also question the philosophical idea according to which conceptual category “tragic conflict” has no value in the present.