Understanding of Justice in ΕΡΓΑ ΚΑΙ ΗΜΕΡΑΙ

Abstract

As one of the most important principles of forming of social relations,Hesiod emphasizes the principle of justice. He places the idea of justice into the verycore of life, because it is in this idea that he fi nds the root out of which a diff erentworld and a better one is to be born. Hesiod’s idea of justice is manifested as a needfor strengthening the relation of equivalence when it is stable and adequate, andfor its establishing in case it is disbalanced and inadequate. Th e presence of justiceat all levels, from the highest metaphysical one, all the way to the relations withinthe practical sphere, shows that it can be considered as a mighty deity, as a cosmicprinciple, but also as a legitimate basis of comprehensive human praxis. In Hesiod’swritings it is fi nally suggested that there is a diff erence between the order of causalityof irrational nature and the order of duties of morality, actually between biaon one hand and nomos and dike on the other. Believing that living beings can notdisturb the order of bia, while humans can disturb the order of dike, Hesiod postulatesthe diff erence which will be crucial for the later philosophical consideration ofthe fi eld of praxis.