Bellezza, ordine e cura della casa. Tracce di estetica quotidiana nel pensiero di Socrate/Senofonte

Abstract

The essay offers a historical study aimed at identifying traces of everyday aesthetics in Greek thought. Through an analysis of Xenophon's Memorable and the Oeconomicus, the paper sheds light on how the concepts of order and beauty (generally interpreted by ancient philosophy in a metaphysical key) are extended by the Socrates of Xenophon and Xenophon himself to the objects and practices of daily life and, specifically, to the care of the home. These ancient texts start a tradition that finds a significant stage in Leon Battista Alberti's De familia and further evidence in the eighteenth century, thus showing the presence of a reflection on the beauty of everydayness prior to the birth of Everyday Aesthetics.