A01=Michael Davis
achilles
alienation
ancient greece
aristotle
Author_Michael Davis
Category=QDHA
character
christianity
cleitophon
de anima
desire
division
duplicity
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eros
euripides
euthyphro
freedom
greek gods
helen
herodotus
heroism
hipparchus
homer
human soul
identity
iliad
immortality
imperfection
iphigeneia among the taurians
justice
law
life
literature
motion
nicomachean ethics
nonfiction
phaedrus
philosophy
plato
religion
republic
spirituality
stability
symposium
tradition
tyranny
Product details
- ISBN 9780226137964
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 16 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 15 Apr 2011
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The understanding of the soul in the West has been profoundly shaped by Christianity, and its influence can be seen in certain assumptions often made about the soul: that, for example, if it does exist, it is separable from the body, free, immortal, and potentially pure. The ancient Greeks, however, conceived of the soul quite differently. In this ambitious new work, Michael Davis analyzes works by Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, Plato, and Aristotle to reveal how the ancient Greeks portrayed and understood what he calls 'the fully human soul'. Beginning with Homer's "Iliad", Davis lays out the tension within the soul of Achilles between immortality and life. He then turns to Aristotle's "De Anima" and "Nicomachean Ethics" to explore the consequences of the problem of Achilles across the whole range of the soul's activity. Moving to Herodotus and Euripides, Davis considers the former's portrayal of the two extremes of culture - one rooted in stability and tradition, the other in freedom and motion - and explores how they mark the limits of character formation.
Davis then shows how Helen and Iphigeneia among the Taurians serve to provide dramatic examples of Herodotus' extreme cultures and their consequences for the soul. The book concludes with Plato's presentation of the soul of Socrates as self-aware and nontragic, even if it is necessarily alienated and divided against itself.
Michael Davis is professor of philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College.
