Ordre et désordre dans la pensée de Plutarque: réseaux lexicaux et problématiques philosophiques autour de ΔΙΚΗ, ΚΟΣΜΟΣ, ΝΟΜΟΣ

Abstract

Ἀταξία πανταχοῦ πονηρόν (Quaest. conv. 618C): in cosmos, soul, city and symposion as well. This paper is aimed at clarifying Plutarch’s thought about order and disorder through a lexical study of δίκη or ἀδικία, νόμος or ἀνομία, κόσμος or ἀκοσμία, referring to a general concept and not to a peculiar fact. The main traditional themes —Hesiodic Δίκη, δίκη θεῶν and Theodicy, the opposition between νόμος and φύσις, connections between order in the city and νόμοι, and the Hellenistic ideal of the good king as νόμος ἔμψυχος— are first summarized and serve as a background to Plutarch's own conceptions of Dike and Theodicy at the metaphysical/ cosmological level, as well as his views on the good political order and the good ruler at the political/ ethical level. Finally a closer examination of the five occurrences of the Pindaric “Ζεὺς ἀριστοτέχνας” allows to sum up the various levels needing to be ordered and the peculiar order needed by each of them.