„Gastfreundschaft des Thorax“. Pindars Ethos des Atmens
(„Hospitality of the Thorax“. Pindar’s Ethos of Breathing)
Abstract.- The ancient Greek poet Pindar (518 – after 446 B.C.) was of great influence on western literature. His Victory Odes contain many elements of poetological reflection. I shall try to show that this conception of poetry is of a genuinely ethical nature: The fact that Pindar’s Odes are written in a lyrical meter is the consequence of a fundamentally ethical attitude – the ethics of measure. Pindar blends this ethics with the greek idea of breathing, which views breath as the fundamental act of living. Since metrical poetry is an act of measured breathing and speaking, poetry implies an „ethics“ or „ethos of breathing“. The interpretation of this relation between ethics and breath will, among others, use concepts developed by the arly and late Heidegger; but eventually it will lead to critical questions concerning Pindar’s poetological concepts and the phenomenological venture itself.