Sense perception and epistemological concerns in Euripides' tragedies

This thesis will discuss the varied relationships with knowledge and belief as depicted in four tragedies of Euripides: Heracles, Helen, Ion, and Bacchae. Comparisons to the epistemological approaches of the early Greek philosophers will help to identify uniquely Greek ways of justifying belief and arriving at knowledge. These philosophers sought intellectual consistency and had argued for various basic principles that governed both the arrangement of the cosmos and our ability to perceive it. Similarly, the characters of Euripides’ plays give voice to their attempts to reconcile their conclusions about how the world should work based on logical thinking, and the reality their senses reveal to them.

This thesis will argue that at least three different epistemologies can be identified in the four plays. There is a divine epistemology which receives the least justification and does not represent a complete (or unified) body of knowledge. There is a secular epistemology which questions traditional knowledge and draws conclusions based on immediate circumstances and sense perception. Finally, there is an initiatory relationship which affirms traditional knowledge and the value of belief due to their ability to produce practical benefits in this life and the afterlife. A precedent for the functional coexistence of multiple systems of belief can be found in the philosophical poem of Parmenides. These two seemingly contradictory bodies of knowledge are endorsed by a divine authority. Heraclitus takes a more personal approach and argues that introspection via contemplating the soul can reveal truths about the cosmos. Such approaches to the acquisition of knowledge may be complementary. For example, a recent paper by Mirto (2016) discusses the relationship between humans and gods in Euripidean tragedy and identifies a cautionary formula that human characters adopt in order to interact with beings they do not fully understand. This formula involves considering multiple possible explanations for the unknowable.

This thesis will not invoke the questionable biographical tradition that placed Euripides in close contact with the philosophers of his time. Instead it will argue that fictional constructions present epistemologies by nature, and that the presence of multiple epistemologies and the observable relationship with the philosophers that preceded Euripides can be ascribed to the Greek intellectual milieu of the classical period.