Greek Epic and Philosophy, Essay Example

Introduction

Obviously, Greek epic as well philosophy emerge to be the integral components of the modern-day Western thought. The thing is that the ideas that ancient Greek poets and thinkers articulated in their works proved to be relevant to our times. Using mythology and philosophy, the Greeks were involved in seeking to make sense of the “chaos” of the ever-shifting world of experience via imposing order. From the Greek mythology it is possible to become aware that Chaos as a Greek God denotes unfathomable space of human origin. Chaos occurs as a God who gives rise to Gaia. This way, in mythological sense, Chaos is reflected to arise all things that are divine and earthly far beyond the physical space. Even in his teachings Virgil spoke about Chaos as the one who “was rehearsing the countless loves of the gods” (Powell 19). Serving as unfathomable space, it only promoted love through a beautiful Aphrodite.

Concerning this essay, it is mainly aimed at clarifying the way that ancient Greeks used epic and philosophy in order to arrange their world. Moreover, the paper argues that both Greek mythology and philosophy appeared as tools to coordinate the relationship between Gods and mere mortals focused on living moral life; it is worth saying that, in view of many historians, Greek mythology and philosophy are tightly connected even though these are two different issues; in spite of all the distinctions, it is necessary to admit that apparent anthropocentric aspects cane be observed in both Greek epic and philosophy. As a result, an anthropocentric perspective helped the Greeks come to understanding that humans have to be considered as a central part of the Universe.

Greek Beliefs

Ancient Greece theatre and, mainly, drama included a lot of religious aspects. The goal the actors were supposed to achieve was to make the audience experience catharsis, which is a purge of emotion. Achieving it relies on showing the consequences of an overly ambitious psyche, since characters think they have the agency to understand or alter their fate. Through witnessing the fall of the protagonist, the audience experiences the inflated sense of self onstage as a cathartic method that humbles the self offstage. Due to its emotional value, catharsis can be compared to religious contrition. Since the Greeks were multi-faceted, its religion has penetrated different spheres of later European societies.

The Precursors of Modern-Day Societal Principles

Ancient times were obviously oriented on humans. Consequently, it means that people were considered as the central component of the world. It is worth admitting that the idea of democratic society occurs as one of the most important contributions of the ancient Greeks. Despite the fact that the construct of democracy emerges as the achievement of a variety of scholars and political philosophers who were involved in durable search of the optimal form of government, one cannot but encounter the fact that the criticism of democracy was born nearly since the times when the ancient Greeks invented it. Analyzing the actual political preferences, it is worth saying that democracy appears to be widely-spread around the world. However, in view of many acknowledged critics, this form of governance is full of discrepancies and shortcomings; as far back as the 4^th century BC the ancient Greek philosopher Plato shows us the similarity between totalitarian rule and democratic rule, where decisions are made upon individual or common group bases, which can no way represent the real vision of social concerns. In any way, despite all the drawbacks that the issue of democracy contained, it is still worth indicating that developed project of such a societal order was invented by the Greeks.

Anthropocentric Constituent of the Greek Epic and Philosophy

Moving through the texts of the Greek poets and philosophers, it becomes apparent that they describe and order “reality” in quite a similar way. The point is that, for example, Hesiod portrays the scene of praising a human as “the sacred bounty of the Muses to men” (Hesiod 3). The same anthropocentric aspects can be seen in the epic poem Odyssey. The lines stating that a man possesses “such resource that even though he were in chains of iron he would find some means of getting home again” give the evidence that Homer uses the element of glorifying the mortals; in view of a number of  scholars, praising the humans emerges as the trait of the Greek epic (Homer 7). Another example of how the Greek poets used mythology in terms of anthropocentric dimension is likely to be found in Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. Reading Nichomachean Ethics, one cannt but encounter the fact that Aristotle pays special attention to the describing the man’s power; in accordance with Aristotle’s contemplation, a man appears to be able to live well and do well (Aristotle 12).

Discussing the predominance of man-oriented arguments among the Greek poets and philosophers, it is important to make mention that this approach to specifying the morality shows the principle of considering the identity of human as the crucial component of ordering the reality. Inevitably, due to the abovementioned citations from Greek poems, one cannot but indicate the thing that Greek myth that some historians perceive as the prototype of philosophy was targeted on stimulating the men to enrich their insight through the elements of eulogizing their abilities. Virgil’s Aeneid demonstrates a human being as a “grave and pious” (Virgil). Regarding the issue of happiness as the ultimate purpose of people, both Virgil and Aristotle prove the theory of happiness to be more than 2000 years old. What is more, Virgil and Aristotle argue that humans possess an opportunity of reasoning, which makes them different from the rest of creatures. Through the human goal that the aforementioned poets and thinkers mentioned in their texts, it is possible to get to the point of human meaning; the point is that due to the features that people are endowed with, they have an unusual worldview as well as the willingness to enhance the longing for self-improvement.

Myth via Philosophy

Indisputably, mythology and philosophy occur as absolutely separate categories; mythology was focused on clarifying supernatural occasion; as for philosophy, it basically encloses the endeavors to design some logic constructs. Notwithstanding this fact, the attempts of both thinkers and poets to offer structure with the help of logic and the quest for the truth, respectively, evidently had much in common; the thing is that myth and philosophy were grounded on the concept of human ideality, which permits to obtain the sense of being happy. It is clear that philosophy can be characterized as a basically down-to-earth studying from the perspective of its arguments and assumptions. For instance, Plato was involved in his search for possible ways to gain the general good of mankind. In Plato’s texts it is possible to vividly see the idea that the societal order should mirror the justice; this is likely to be achieved via attempting to respect the surrounding neighbors.

The abovementioned arguments, which were advance by the Greek philosopher Plato, prove him to pay special attention to the importance of obeying the moral norms. In his Allegory of the Cave the philosopher manifests the significance of education as the only way to eradicating the downsides of human beings. The words that dark people appear to be “prevented by the chains from turning round their heads” (Plato 1) demonstrate the necessity to improve oneself so as to live a decent life. Aristotle in his Metaphysics also draws attention to the fact that mankind should get focused on “art and reasoning” (Aristotle 1); it is possible to conclude that both philosophers acknowledge the need to corroborate the superiority by giving proofs. In contrast to philosophy, the mythology was mainly prosaic yet still human-oriented. The most important idea of the myth is its theme or moral; it is worth taking into consideration the fact that Greek myths often incorporate much bravery, which allows the characters to go through different obstacles in order to gain all they needed for the inner calm.

Conclusion    

To sum up, one should take into account that Greek myth and philosophy emerged as the mandatory components of the 21^st century. The thing is that the concepts that ancient thinkers managed to elaborate some 2000 years ago are still of interest at this time. Apparently, it is necessary to vividly understand all the contribution that the Greeks made to Western thought; one should not underestimate the contribution of a number of gifted and proactive Greek thinkers who demonstrated their inexhaustible interest in a multitude of scientific fields and areas. Beyond any doubts, there was a large number of the outstanding personalities among the Greeks, whose interpretation of many things appeared to be the matter of great importance.

Works Cited

Aristotle, Metaphysics, CT Reader, pp. 81-85

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, CT Readers, pp. 66-80

Hesiod, Theogony (.pdf)

Hommer, Odyseey, Books 1, 2, 5, 6

Homer, Odyssey, Books 9, 10, 11, 12

Homer, Odyssey, Books 13, 19, 21, 22, 23

Plato, Timaeus q17a – 51b

Plato, Allegory of the Cave,” CT Reader, pp. 43-51

Plato, Phaedrus 244a-257b

Powell, Barry. A Short Introduction to Classical Myth. Prentice-Hall, 2001. Print.

Virgil, Aeneid, Books 1, 2, 3