UDC 11
DOI 10.20339/AM.03-26.101
Stanislav V. Solovev, Master’s student in the Philosophical Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia; e-mail: stanislav_solovev_01@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0630-1436
The article examines the symbol of the bee in ancient thought as a social metaphor through which Hesiod, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil, Lucretius and the Stoics conceptualized the structure of society. The bee acts as a model of a community where the individual is subordinated to the general order, labor is distributed, and the good of the whole is primary. In the mythopoeic tradition, it symbolizes labor solidarity, Plato’s hierarchy and distribution of roles, Aristotle’s natural character of sociality, and the Stoics’ image of a reasonable citizen of the cosmos. Thus, the bee functions as a universal symbol of a social structure in which order, mutual dependence and service to the common good are harmoniously combined.
Keywords: bee, symbol, metaphor, interdisciplinary analysis, social philosophy
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