Man's Role as Thinker in Classical Greek Literature

FAIN: FB-13132-77

Bruce K. Omundson
Lansing Community College (Lansing, MI 48933-1293)

To read the extant works of Homer, Hesiod, the Greek tragedians, and Aristophanes to ascertain their views on man's abilities and limitations as a thinking being, and how they express the tension in Greek thought between reason/emotion, Apollo/Dionysos, structure/spontaneity restraint/ecstasy. Plato's criticism will then be explored in relation to the poets. From select contemporary literature which criticizes the current disaffection with reason and to assess the legitimacy of the criticisms in light of the Classical Greek humanist tradition.