The Greeks and the IrrationalIn this philosophy classic, which was first published in 1951, E. R. Dodds takes on the traditional view of Greek culture as a triumph of rationalism. Using the analytical tools of modern anthropology and psychology, Dodds asks, "Why should we attribute to the ancient Greeks an immunity from 'primitive' modes of thought which we do not find in any society open to our direct observation?" Praised by reviewers as "an event in modern Greek scholarship" and "a book which it would be difficult to over-praise," The Greeks and the Irrational was Volume 25 of the Sather Classical Lectures series. In this philosophy classic, which was first published in 1951, E. R. Dodds takes on the traditional view of Greek culture as a triumph of rationalism. Using the analytical tools of modern anthropology and psychology, Dodds asks, "Why should we attribute t |
Contents
| 1 | |
From ShameCulture to GuiltCulture | 28 |
The Blessings of Madness | 64 |
DreamPattern and CulturePattern | 102 |
The Greek Shamans and the Origin of Puritanism | 135 |
Rationalism and Reaction in the Classical Age | 179 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aesch Aeschylus ancient Apol Apollo appears apud Archaic Age Aristides Aristotle Asclepius Athens attributed belief Bidez called chap Corybantic cult culture daemon dancing Diels Diog Dionysiac Dionysus divine doctrine dreams Empedocles Epimenides Euripides evidence Festugière fifth century gods Greece Greek Hellenistic Heraclitus Herodotus Hesiod Hipp Homer human Iamblichus ibid idea Iliad irrational later Laws Linforth madness maenads magical mind moral myst Nilsson occult oracles Orphic passage perhaps Phaedo Pindar Plato Plut Plutarch poet primitive Proclus Psellus psyche psychic psychological Pyth Pythagoras Pythagorean Pythia quoted rational recognise religion religious rites ritual Rohde says seems sense shaman shamanistic Socrates Soph soul Suidas supernatural Theol theurgy things thought tion tradition trance Wilamowitz words Xenophanes Zalmoxis Zeus γὰρ δαίμων δὲ ἐν καὶ μὴ οἱ περὶ τὰ τε καὶ τὴν τῆς τὸ τὸν τοῦ τῷ τῶν ψυχή ὡς
Popular passages
Page 3 - not I was the cause of this act, but Zeus and my portion and the Erinys who walks in darkness: they it was who in the assembly put wild ate in my understanding, on that day when I arbitrarily took Achilles
Page 1 - Individuality is founded in feeling; and the recesses of feeling, the darker, blinder strata of character, are the only places in the world in which we catch real fact in the making, and directly perceive how events happen, and how work is actually done.