Open AccessTHE BACCHANTIC FEAST AS A DUALISM
Author(s) -
Simona Chiodo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
revista de antropología y filosofía de lo sagrado/revista de antropología y filosofía de lo sagrado
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2603-6053
pISSN - 2530-1233
DOI - 10.24310/raphisa.2018.v0i4.7383
Subject(s) - dualism , cornerstone , dimension (graph theory) , meaning (existential) , epistemology , philosophy , art , mathematics , pure mathematics , visual arts
The bacchantic feast, especially as it is described in Euripides’s Bacchae, is a powerful example of what may be thought of as the most essential cornerstone of Wes- tern culture: the dualism between the dimension of reality (represented by Pentheus) and the dimension of ideality (represented by the bacchantic feast). In particular, why must the former die after having seen the latter? That is, why the dimension of idea- lity (as well as the dimension of the sacred) can be essential, and even a saviour, for the dimension of reality (as well as for the dimension of the profane) if and only if the dualism between them is rigorously respected? I shall try to answer this question, and to use my answer as a clue to start investigating another essential structure of the dualism between reality and ideality which founds Western culture, by passing from its religious meaning to its epistemological meaning.