Logos and Muthos: Philosophical Essays in Greek Literature

This volume challenges the once popular concept that Greek myths as told in Homer and Hesiod were taken for fact until, with time, the logic of the philosophers replaced them. Wians (philosophy, Merrimack College) has chosen essays that look first at Homer and Homeric fiction and then the great Greek tragedies in terms of their awareness of philosophy and universal themes rather than rote story-telling. The essays ask how the philosophers dealt with Homer's depiction of man's imperfect knowledge, of events and of themselves, leading to the problem of how to determine truth. Several essays look at the role of Helen in philosophy and myth, including the faux Helen of Euripides. The essays on Sophocles and Aeschylus consider how the playwrights used the established myths to look more deeply into human actions and free will. All of the essays stress the interplay of myth and reason, not a progression from one to the other. It would be interesting to apply this study to the current spate of myth based films and television programs. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

William Wians is Professor of Philosophy at Merrimack College and editor of Aristotle’s Philosophical Development: Problems and Prospects.