The kaleidoscope of Sophocles: on Antigone and the Philosophy of Law

Trelles J.E.S. · Doxa. Cuadernos de Filosofia del Derecho (2024) · DOI: 10.14198/doxa2024.48.15

Resumen

This paper offers a contemporary reading of the position of five characters of the Sophoclean tragedy Antigone: Creon, Antigone, Ismene, Haemon and Teiresias. I argue that in their approaches we can find the central axes of various discussions of the philosophy of law, embodied in problems such as obedience to the law, the orders of normativity of positive law and ethics, the relationship between law and power, and between law and practical reason, in the form of prudence and modulation in the application of the law and its sanctions. In this sense, the analysis is a proof of the central thesis, namely, that Antigone is a sort of kaleidoscope for thinking about central issues of contemporary philosophy of law and that, consequently, its value is not merely historical.

Instituciones: Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades