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The Mirror of the Self – Sexuality, Self–Knowledge, and the Gaze in the Early Roman Empire

Shadi Bartsch author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:11th Nov '14

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Mirror of the Self – Sexuality, Self–Knowledge, and the Gaze in the Early Roman Empire cover

People in the ancient world thought of vision as both an ethical tool and a tactile sense, akin to touch. Gazing upon someone - or oneself - was treated as a path to philosophical self-knowledge, but the question of tactility introduced an crotic element as well. In The Mirror of the Self, Shadi Bartsch asserts that these links among vision, sexuality, and self-knowledge are key to the classical understanding of the self. Weaving together literary theory, philosophy, and social history, Bartsch traces this complex notion of self from Plato's Greece to Seneca's Rome as she unveils divided selves, moral hypocrisy, and lustful Stoics - and offers fresh insights about seminal works. At once sexy and philosophical, The Mirror of the Self will be required reading for classicists, philosophers, and anthropologists alike.

"A brilliant and thought-provoking study of the role of mirrors and mirroring in ethical thought. While drawing the proper distinctions between ancient and modern understanding of the mirror, self-mirroring and, indeed, the self, Bartsch cannot help reminding us that ancient conceptions have not been jettisoned wholesale in the march of history. Her book makes stimulating reading for anyone interested in the drama of the ethical life, now and then." (Times Literary Supplement)"

ISBN: 9780226211725

Dimensions: 235mm x 150mm x 20mm

Weight: 496g

312 pages