Sebastian Ștefănucă, Kerasma. One way of moral confirmation in Greece

Sebastian Ștefănucă - University of Bucharest, Faculty of Philosophy, Bucharest
TOME LII 2014
p. 243-255
Online publication date: 
02/05/2024
Keywords: 
kerasma; hospitality; gift; debt; reciprocity; parea; moral confirmation
Abstract: 

It is not unusual in a Greek tavern for a stranger to have his coffee paid by one of the autochthonous people. This behaviour is signified as kerasma in the Greek vocabulary. Which is the profound anthropological meaning of kerasma? An analysis made by ways of hospitality, kindness, of concepts of debt and gift, touches only partially the core of significance. In the end, also guided by excessive use of kalos adjectives, this core could not be more than the act of giving from the beginning of a moral credit to the person envisaged by kerasma.