PLATO AND EPICTETUS AGAINST THE FEAR ΜΟΡΜΟΛΥΚΕΙΑ

Abstract

The ancient Greece knows a term to designate childhood fear: μορμολύκεια. They were witches or dark creatures evoked by mothers and nurses to discipline children who didn't behave. This article intends to understand how the term 'μορμολύκεια' is used by Plato in the Phaedo, and how Epictetus uses it to conceive the position that the philosopher must have in the face of death and the fear of death. Thus, the fear of death can be understood as a childhood fear of something that should not worry. The somber face of the dreadful μορμολύκεια translates ontological absence and fertile imagination that interfere with the pursuit of knowledge and philosophical life