Epimetheus

I promise and Epimetheus to Pandora. Painting by Hermann Julius Schlösser.

In Greek mythology Epimetheus (Ancient Greek Ἐπιμηθεύς Epimêtheús, 'who reflects later', "retrospective", literally " thought-after,") was the brother of Prometheus ("foresight", literally "thought-ahead"), since unlike Prometheus (who could see the future), he was belatedly seeing things that had already happened. Both acted as benefactors of humanity, but while Prometheus is characterized as resourceful and intelligent, Epimetheus is depicted as careless and careless. He was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the oceanid Clymene. Other brothers of his are Atlas and Menecio. Together with Pandora, he had a daughter, Pyrrha the Red, who together with Deucalion (son of Prometheus) were the parents of the human race after the great flood.

Greek Mythology

According to Plato's use of the old myth in his Protagoras (320d-322a), the two titans were in charge of the diffusion of traits among the newly created animals; Epimetheus was responsible for giving a positive trait to all animals, but when it was time to give man a positive trait, due to lack of foresight he found that there was nothing left. Prometheus decided that the attributes of humanity would be civilized arts and fire, which he stole from Apollo's chariot of the sun. Prometheus later stood trial for his crime. In the context of Plato's dialogue "Epimetheus, the being in which thoughts follow production, represents nature in the sense of materialism, according to which thought comes after thoughtless bodies and their movements thoughtless".

According to Hesiod, who told the story twice (Theogony 527ff; The Works and Days, 57ff), Epimetheus was the one who accepted Pandora's gift from the gods. Her marriage can be inferred (and was by later authors), but it is not made explicit in any text.

In later myths, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora is Pyrrha, who married Deucalion and was one of the two to survive the flood.

Philosophy

Epimetheus plays a key role in the philosophy of Bernard Stiegler and, in particular, in terms of his understanding of the relationship between technogenesis and anthropogenesis. According to Stiegler, it is significant that Epimetheus is left totally forgotten in the philosophy of Martin Heidegger.

Les Amis, in his book Commemorating Epimetheus (2009), restores the value of Epimetheus. He credits it with bringing to the world the knowledge of dependence on one another and is described phenomenologically in terms of sharing and caring gatherings, housing, and love.