The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry into what, exactly, philanthropy is and why it matters. At present, though, no such well-thought-out definition exists. Scholars tend to explore various facets of philanthropy, according to their particular academic interests, but without a comprehensive understanding of its full meaning. This article attempts to correct this lack of synoptic understanding by surveying prominent instances of usage and definitions of philanthrôpía in the classical Greek era and synthesizing them into a overall framework for understanding its full classical meaning. In so doing, philanthrôpía is revealed to be a signal word, the meaning of which significantly evolved to reflect historically dominant philosophical and cultural trends in classical Greek society. This article concludes the exploration of this subject begun in an article published in the previous issue of NVSQ, titled “On the Modern Meaning of Philanthropy.”
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