Ethics in Aesop's Fables

"Ethics in Aesop's Fables: the" Augustana "Collection" offers an original and innovative analysis of the Greek fable in the framework of Greek ethical thinking. The book starts with a brief account of the history and genre of the Greek fable. It then focuses on the "Augustana" collection of prose fables and analyses its ethical content in the larger context of Greek thought. A detailed comparison of Greek ethical thinking with the language of the fables shows the persistence of certain types of ethical reasoning and of certain key ethical norms. The author argues that although the fable was not 'philosophy', it was indeed 'philosophical' because it communicated normative messages about human behaviour, which reflected widespread views in Greek ethical thought. This book is of special interest to both students and scholars of Greek fable and of Greek philosophy.