Timon of Athens, a classic case of axiological illness

Abstract

In the article Illnesses and Deficiencies of Axiological Consciousness from issue 13 of this journal, I presented arguments in favor of developing philosophy along the lines of a medical theory which identifies and treats axiological diseases—those illnesses which originate in our deviant desiderative acts and lead us to behaviors which plunge us below the threshold of human dignity. Within that framework, I also emphasized that this medical objective has been sporadically and intuitively pursued, among others, by moralizing artists. In the present case, we seek to identify one of the axiological diseases, misanthropy, and to illustrate it through the figure of Timon of Athens.