Thumos and the Daring Soul: Craving Honor and Justice

Abstract

The Greek conception of the spirited aspect of soul reaches back to the Pre-Socratics and to theHomeric tradition, and is crucial to tragedy. In public assembly for political protest, perceptions,passions, and embodied ways of knowing are put into action.This work is a philosophicalexamination of indignation. I examine the Greek notion of the spirited part of the soul which resentsinjury and resists injustice. To take actions for the sake of one’s moral and political dignity and forthe moral dignity of others may involve the risking arrest and detention. Challenging the wishes ofthe political authority to which one owes allegiance has psychosomatic effects. To examine theseeffects from the point of view of Greek psychic descriptions is the purpose of this study. BothHomeric and tragedic Greek literary contexts, and a contemporary incident of civil disobedience,will inform this discussion.