普塔霍特普
归于他名下的教诲说，美好的生活遵循玛阿特——真理、正义和秩序——通过谦逊、公正的言辞和善于倾听。
定位
《普塔霍特普的箴言》被归于第五王朝的一位宰相名下（约公元前2400年），但很可能成书于中王国时期（约公元前1900年），现存最古老的抄本也出自这一时期；它是最古老的智慧书之一：依照玛阿特——真理、正义与秩序——而生活。
核心思想
- 玛阿特（真理与秩序）
- 智慧的训导
- 谦逊与公正的言语
作品
- 约公元前2000年年普塔霍特普的箴言
一位年迈的宰相教导儿子：要善于倾听，言语公正，保持谦逊——因为玛阿特（Maat）长存。
立场
An aged vizier asks the king for leave to instruct his son, then sets out some thirty-seven maxims for a successful and upright life. At their centre stands Maat – truth, justice and right order – which endures, while greed and injustice end in ruin. The ideal is the self-controlled listener: do not be proud of your knowledge, but take counsel with the ignorant as well as the wise, for good speech is rarer than precious stone, yet found among servant girls at the grindstone. The maxims cover conduct towards superiors, equals and inferiors, in judging and in marriage. They are among the oldest surviving works of ethical reflection. Placing Egypt at the start of African philosophy, as this map does, follows Cheikh Anta Diop and Théophile Obenga and is debated.
生平与背景
The Maxims of Ptahhotep present themselves as the teaching of a vizier under King Djedkare Isesi of the Fifth Dynasty, around the 24th century BCE. Officials of that name are attested in this period, but whether one of them composed the text cannot be shown. The work survives mainly in the Prisse Papyrus and other Middle Kingdom copies, and most scholars date its composition to that later era.
其他主要作品
- The Maxims of Ptahhotep (attributed to the Fifth Dynasty; preserved in Middle Kingdom copies, c. 2000–1800 BCE)
出现在
- 旅程 ‘非洲哲学’ · 第 1 站，共 10 站
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