Ptahhotep · Philosophy

The Hearing Son and the Good Life

The climax of the <em>Maxims</em>: the &lsquo;hearing son&rsquo; who listens and is formed by wisdom, against the fool who mistakes knowledge for ignorance and cannot be taught. How conduct toward one&rsquo;s household and friends completes the good life - and how a civilization survives its own mortality by teaching.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Ptahhotep made hearing - attentive, teachable listening - the master virtue, contrasting the &lsquo;son who hearkeneth&rsquo; (who is formed by wisdom and reaches honour) with the fool who cannot be taught, and that the Maxims end by making instruction the way wisdom outlives the wise. Explain the hea…

Leads to Hesiod.

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