López R. 2003. Apunte sobre la Razón Griega. Cinta moebio 16: 6-14

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Note on the Greek Reason

Ricardo López (rilopez@vtr.net). Instituto de Comunicación. Universidad de Chile.

Abstract

To think with logics is the seal of the intellectual behavior in the western culture. Rationality is the word that designates a modality of thinking that it obtains his legitimacy of principles universally accepted. The Greek culture discovered the reason that allows the interchange between the men, turning to the argumentation, the discussion and the dialogue in the necessary conditions for the intellectual unfolding, the search of the knowledge, and the establishment of the political relations. With the appearance of polis a system that makes the superiority possible of the word by on the remaining forms of the interpersonal power, to the point takes form that this one gets to be the best tool of influence. In the course of time, the reason will commit the excess to imagine itself like the privileged expression of the human capacities, disqualifying other properties of the spirit. The Greek culture, nevertheless, never arrived to be completely rational.

Key words: rationality, thought, dialogue, polis, myth, logo.