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Harvard University Press Reference Library
Greek Thought: A Guide to Classical Knowledge
Ancient Greek thought is the essential wellspring from which the intellectual, ethical, and political civilization of the West draws and to which, even today, we repeatedly return. In more than sixty essays by an international team of scholars, this volume explores the full breadth and reach of Greek thought--investigating what the Greeks knew as well as what they thought about what they knew, and what they believed, invented, and understood about the conditions and possibilities of knowing. Calling attention to the characteristic reflexivity of Greek thought, the analysis in this book reminds us of what our own reflections owe to theirs.
In sections devoted to philosophy, politics, the pursuit of knowledge, major thinkers, and schools of thought, this work shows us the Greeks looking at themselves, establishing the terms for understanding life, language, production, and action. The authors evoke not history, but the stories the Greeks told themselves about history; not their poetry, but their poetics; not their speeches, but their rhetoric. Essays that survey political, scientific, and philosophical ideas, such as those on Utopia and the Critique of Politics, Observation and Research, and Ethics; others on specific fields from Astronomy and History to Mathematics and Medicine; new perspectives on major figures, from Anaxagoras to Zeno of Elea; studies of core traditions from the Milesians to the various versions of Platonism: together these offer a sense of the unquenchable thirst for knowledge that marked Greek civilization--and that Aristotle considered a natural and universal trait of humankind. With thirty-two pages of color illustrations, this work conveys the splendor and vitality of the Greek intellectual adventure.
In sections devoted to philosophy, politics, the pursuit of knowledge, major thinkers, and schools of thought, this work shows us the Greeks looking at themselves, establishing the terms for understanding life, language, production, and action. The authors evoke not history, but the stories the Greeks told themselves about history; not their poetry, but their poetics; not their speeches, but their rhetoric. Essays that survey political, scientific, and philosophical ideas, such as those on Utopia and the Critique of Politics, Observation and Research, and Ethics; others on specific fields from Astronomy and History to Mathematics and Medicine; new perspectives on major figures, from Anaxagoras to Zeno of Elea; studies of core traditions from the Milesians to the various versions of Platonism: together these offer a sense of the unquenchable thirst for knowledge that marked Greek civilization--and that Aristotle considered a natural and universal trait of humankind. With thirty-two pages of color illustrations, this work conveys the splendor and vitality of the Greek intellectual adventure.
1056 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2000
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June 17, 2012Many of us make New Year's resolutions concerning books. We think we should read more, and we know we should nourish our minds and hearts with work more substantive than the latest legal thriller or one-trick pop-psychology guidebook. But a month or two after Jan. 1, many of us are faced with a stack of books we resolved to read but haven't yet begun. What's the point of starting a volume as literally and metaphorically weighty as GREEK THOUGHT: A GUIDE TO CLASSICAL KNOWLEDGE when the idea of finishing this gorgeous 1,024-page tome before retirement age seems doubtful if not downright absurd? After all, many of us are still using last year's most surprising bestseller, Jacques Barzun's FROM DAWN TO DECADE: 500 YEARS OF CULTURAL LIFE, 1500 TO THE PRESENT, to adorn our coffee tables rather than exercise our minds.
And yet certain passages in both GREEK THOUGHT and FROM DAWN TO DECADENCE suggest that this particular bibliophilic problem contains its own means of solution: the Socratic method. Most of us associate Socrates' pedagogical system with law-school classrooms, but the Athenian philosopher never limited his pupils to those who had performed well on the fifth-century equivalent of the LSATs. Indeed, any interested Athenian could observe how Socrates broke down difficult concepts into questions designed ultimately to reveal the relative importance of a given concept's various elements, and how he then prodded his pupils into making decisions about how the matter in question applied to the practicalities of their daily lives. Not a bad means of triage when it comes to plenty of things, including the "so many books, so little time" conundrum: Socrates would very likely recommend one weighty book per season—or per year, for that matter—instead of five helpings of brain candy. (The concept of certain books as desserts, however, would probably be deemed OK.) He might also advise that it's fine to read as slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully as we might wish. One chapter at a time, one week at a time.
(originally published in the NASHVILLE SCENE)
And yet certain passages in both GREEK THOUGHT and FROM DAWN TO DECADENCE suggest that this particular bibliophilic problem contains its own means of solution: the Socratic method. Most of us associate Socrates' pedagogical system with law-school classrooms, but the Athenian philosopher never limited his pupils to those who had performed well on the fifth-century equivalent of the LSATs. Indeed, any interested Athenian could observe how Socrates broke down difficult concepts into questions designed ultimately to reveal the relative importance of a given concept's various elements, and how he then prodded his pupils into making decisions about how the matter in question applied to the practicalities of their daily lives. Not a bad means of triage when it comes to plenty of things, including the "so many books, so little time" conundrum: Socrates would very likely recommend one weighty book per season—or per year, for that matter—instead of five helpings of brain candy. (The concept of certain books as desserts, however, would probably be deemed OK.) He might also advise that it's fine to read as slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully as we might wish. One chapter at a time, one week at a time.
(originally published in the NASHVILLE SCENE)
February 15, 2009
A very thorough book. ... makes a wonderful reference book
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November 21, 2009None
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews