Pepali Ki Ageng Sela: Filologi Modern dan Universalitas Etika dalam Perspektif Regime of Truth

Abstract

This study examines Pepali Ki Ageng Sela as a Javanese inner-ethical text preserved through photocopied manuscripts circulating among local communities in Grobogan, Central Java. Using a modern philological approach, this research conducts transliteration, translation, and content analysis to extract ten core pepali that represent the moral conduct of the community. Through Foucault’s framework of the regime of truth, the pepali are interpreted as a system of truth not produced by formal authorities but transmitted through social practices and the circulation of popular manuscripts. The findings indicate that the pepali contain a structure of self-restraint intertwined with the four passions in Javanese–Islamic ethics (amarah, supiyah, aluamah, and mutmainah), while simultaneously showing thematic correspondences with the seven deadly sins in Western ethics. This cross-tradition convergence suggests the presence of universal ethical patterns emerging autonomously across civilizations. The study asserts that Pepali Ki Ageng Sela is not merely a local moral document but an epistemic node that reveals resonant values shared by Javanese, Islamic, and global ethical traditions.