Logoi and muthoi : further essays in Greek philosophy and literature /

Wians (Merrimack College) defines an interdisciplinary paradigm for ancient Greek philosophy in the 21st century, effectively dismantling the mid-20th-century idea of the "Greek miracle." In this follow-up to his collection Logos and Muthos: Philosophical Essays in Greek Literature (CH, May'10, 47-4945) Wians brings more leading scholars together to corroborate his earlier claim that the ancients did not believe mythic literature and philosophy were dichotomous. "The poetic tradition was pedagogical," asserts Wians (p. 5). Likewise, rhetorical and philosophical texts involved audience. In her essay Ruth Blondell contrasts works by Homer, Georgias, and Euripides with an eye to their public performance. Marina Marren, similarly appealing to Athenian reception, deflates Oedipus's supposedly exemplary drive toward self-knowledge. Wians himself questions the epistemology of divinely inspired poets (Homer, Parmenides). Kevin Robb finds a system of moral expectations in the Odyssey's rituals of guest friendship. Robert Hahn illuminates Anaximander's astrological experiments, and A. A. Long compares Plato, Lucretius, and Wordsworth. Luc Brisson interprets Prometheus and Pandora as evidence of essential human conflict with the gods, who never extinguish hope. Rich with anthropological, political, and religious context, these and other essays reset the philosophical cornerstones laid by Plato. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. --Peter W. Wakefield, Emory University