Not everyone cherishes an epic poem that is more than 2,500 years old. If that’s you, give the experts a chance to convince you. In this episode of EconTalkRuss Roberts interviews Claudia Hauer about war, education, and strategic humanism. Hauer is an expert on the importance of reading classical texts and has often served as a visiting professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Hauer, a professor at St. John’s College (Santa Fe), where students learn ancient Greek as part of their education, is also the author of Strategic Humanism: Leadership Lessons from the Ancient GreeksThis is the focus of this interview.
Dr. Hauer mentions teaching two very different student populations: U.S. Air Force trainees and St. John’s College students who specifically sought a “good book” style of education. Hauer argues that because of their different approaches and goals, both groups of students have something to take away from the humanities, especially the ancient Greek epics she teaches.
Hauer’s Air Force Academy students often entered the classroom convinced that ancient war poetry had little to offer them. On the surface, weapons and fighting methods are described. Homer A far cry from modern life and war. In the conversation between Hauer and Roberts, they mentioned the following concept of practical knowledge:technology) in classical Greek.
technology It’s a concept that can (in most cases) be translated as: shippingin other words how We achieve excellence (Greek: ἀρετή [aretê]) in a specific domain. It is professional knowledge and experiential knowledge gained while doing something. As Roberts said, it is the root of our words. technology But that doesn’t mean exactly the same thing.
Hauer argues that the Greeks are worth reading even if you are not an expert, and describes how he successfully persuaded officers-in-training that Homer was worth reading. She argues that the Greek tradition of how best to be human is still worth discussing even after millennia, and that for training to lead in the military the following text is particularly relevant.
I think it is important to read this book if only to witness some of the objectification tendencies during the war. But more than that, it teaches us a timeless lesson about camaraderie during war and its cycles. Jonathan Shay has this book. Achilles of Vietnam, He points to the cycle, the process by which the emotional cycle we see being released from the Achilles tendon. that Iliad– A cycle of grief that leads to a commander’s betrayal, withdrawal from battle, the death of a close friend, and then a murderous, savage rage. Jonathan Shay points out that this cycle is timeless and occurs over and over again on the battlefield.
So I think, as far as what happens in that case, Iliad is still part of the war landscape, so I think it’s important that we read it. Can we go further than that? Could we possibly be venturing into territory that actually suggests it’s worth reading in its own right? I think the metaphor – the way Homer sets the war against the natural landscape and explores the ways in which humans fight like lions or natural forces like heavy rain or thunderstorms – is that he’s actually setting out to do this. I think. The Greeks would continue their literature. How do we begin to find human space in the face of our powerlessness as creatures in this world of power and power?
And, we don’t Always fully understand your relationship with nature and your relationship with animals. And that is exactly the problem the Greeks solved. every According to their literature, the gods did not hand humans over to them on a Biblical platter, so they had to figure it out themselves. In that sense, I would like to argue as follows. IliadWe must read it for itself.
Like many modern people with a humanistic education, I will spend most of my adult life behind a laptop computer. what kind of technology do you need that? What kinds of skills has my education equipped me with? technology? Knowing the best way to be human is technology? Is it something that can be taught or passed on? technology The concept is ubiquitous in Greek literature and philosophy. in Meno, Platon “Socrates, can you tell me whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice? If it is not through teaching or practice, is it given to people naturally, or is it achieved through some other means?” Without going too deep into the Greek text (Plato uses other words with similar meanings: technology), it is clear that readers are invited to consider the practical implications of knowledge about what is good and true.
Aristotle addresses a similar question as follows: metaphysics, He distinguishes between artisan knowledge and craftsman knowledge. For Aristotle, experience is a necessary but not sufficient condition for knowledge. Wisdom is heightened experience. Although he points out that even simple experiences can be very useful to humans. “For practical purposes experience seems in no way inferior to art. In fact, we see people with experience being more successful than people with only theory and no experience.”
In their philosophical discussions, poetry, and plays, the Greeks had a complex and sophisticated view of practical knowledge, and there are far more examples than can be listed here. These conversations are accessible to us (particularly through the following online resources): Library of Liberty Online) It doesn’t matter whether we are soldiers, sailors, scholars or dictators. We are still asking these human questions.
Some other questions to consider include:
1- Dr. Hauer convinced students at the Air Force Academy to read the book. IliadPoetry about war. Does it have something to do with us not participating in its development? technology war or technology Reading Greek literature? How can that be? Is it more or less relevant than the content? OdysseyAs mentioned in the podcast episode?
2. Humanities are often not directly connected to vocational training, so they can be considered impractical. But the ancient Greeks were very interested in the practical implications of the idea of knowledge. Why did the Greeks distinguish between purely speculative knowledge and practical expertise? What can their approach to knowledge acquisition teach us about education today?
3- What parallels can you draw between physically practical skills, such as carpentry, exercise, medicine, and art-making, and ways of practicing virtue?
4- Did the ancient Greeks consider the humanities we think of today as a form of humanities? technology? In what ways are the humanities similar? technology Are you in a professional field, such as medicine or the military?
5- What types of humanities disciplines do you think would benefit most from ancient Greek insights into the transmission of knowledge? And how? What can students majoring in the humanities learn from contemporary practical scholarship?
Related materials
“Leadership Lessons in the Ancient World,” an essay by Josiah Osgood
“Mr. Truman Degree”, essay by GEM Anscombe (1956)
τέχνι, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
Technē in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Nancy Vander Veer holds a BA in Classics from Samford University. She taught Latin in American high schools and held programming and fundraising roles at the Paideia Institute. Based in Rome, Italy, she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in European Social and Economic History at Philipps-Universität Marburg.
