Homeric Epics: Concrete Universals As Moral Paradigm

Over the last ten years, the researches of Homer mainly focus on its ethics and philosophical connotation. In recent decade, scholars have distracted their attention from the literary technique of the Iliad and the Odyssey to the ethics and philosophical significance of them. According to the relation of the Iliad or the Odyssey with philosophy, some domestic and overseas scholars consider that the moral value system in Homer?s society would include goodness and honor, courage and justice, and the value of the epic heroes determine the social ethics of Homer. As claimed by the others, Homer has not only paved the way for the western philosophy but also explained the philosophical connotation in a poetic way. However, the academic research still cannot explain the ethical essence and connotation of Homer?s epic poems reflected by the Iliad and the Odyssey as an organic whole. Homer constructs the concrete universals as a moral paradigm. By taking Homer?s ethics as the research object and employing the theory of concrete universals as the research approach, this thesis attempts to demonstrate that the poetic wisdom grasps the eternal “one” through multifarious “many”, and numerous epic stories have been built into concrete universals to provide specific moral paradigm.This thesis consists of three parts, including introduction, main body, and conclusion. To be specific, the introduction is composed of four parts: literary reviews, research questions, methodology, and organization of the thesis. In this part, domestic and overseas studies concerning Homeric ethics and the theory of concrete universals have been analyzed in detail. On this basis, three research questions are further presented. The main body of the thesis can be divided into three chapters. The first chapter demonstrates three kinds of responsibilities in three dimensions, including responsibility of parents, responsibility of children, and responsibility of spouse. The good name of father is inherited by his son and the father also takes responsibility to educate his son. Whether children could become a hero with good fame is significantly determined by his fulfillment of his responsibility of support for parents. Only the wife and the husband fulfill their duties and shoulder their responsibilities can they establish a stable and harmonious family. The second chapter demonstrates three kinds of justices in three dimensions, including justice of nature, justice of politics, and justice of convention. Justice of nature is an effective justice to anyone whose scope is all people. Also, that is the justice that gods maintain. The justice of politics refers to the justice among citizens who live in city-state through self-sufficiency. The justice of convention is a justice based on convention and convenience. Convention is “one”, while just behaviors are “many”. The third chapter illustrates three kinds of virtues in three dimensions, including honor of citizen, courage of citizen, and wisdom of citizen. Honor is the highest realm morally worshipped by heroes and the internal driving force of all of their actions. One person should always be brave enough in wars or play a huge role in safeguarding the homeland and the community, so as to win honor. For having honor, wisdom is more significant virtue than courage.In the conclusion part, this thesis points out that Homer reveals the situation of men in action as well as the relationship between men and the world by telling stories, objectifies the morality as concrete activities and destiny of characters, discusses the connotation of responsibility, justice and virtue, constructs the concrete universals as moral paradigm, and thereby sets an imitable moral example for ancient Greek.