The Problem of Justice in Homer and Plato: A Discussion Seminar
What is justice? What do we hope for from it, and a just society? Is justice good? What is it that we, or those we admire, most strive for?
Join us at AAI this Fall for a seminar on the Problem of Justice as we explore these perennial questions.
Discuss excerpts of Plato and Homer with your peers in an atmosphere of deep discovery, community, and intellectual exploration.
Open to Undergraduates
At Harvard and boston area universities
Starting September 12th, we will meet for 10 weeks every Tuesday from 8 pm to 9:30pm at the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge.
There is no cost to the program, and each week's readings will be provided as PDF documents to all participants.
Refreshments will be provided at each session.
Socrates, according to Cicero, "was the first who called philosophy down from the heavens, and placed it in cities, and compelled her to ask questions about life and morality and things good and bad" (Tusc. Disp. v.10). We all have opinions about how to live, about right and wrong, and about what a good or admirable person is. These opinions are not simply our private personal beliefs, but have been formed and guided by the common beliefs that rule our democracy: the belief in freedom and, above all, the belief in equality. It is easy enough to get swept along by the roaring tide of praises, exhortations, causes, and denunciations that drive political life, and let the passing prejudices of our time and place determine who we are. But do we really want to settle for mere opinions on those things by which we live our lives? Don't we want to be right, to know we're right, to be as rigorous as we can, when the stakes are so high? Without knowledge and clarity about justice, there can be no clarity and knowledge about ourselves.
Since no one searches for what he thinks he already has, we must first become aware that we don’t know what justice is; we must become aware of our ignorance and confusion. Justice must first come to light for us as a riddle or paradox. In this we are blessed with great examples and teachers. From the earliest times, men have pursued justice as the deepest and most unquestionable good, calling forth and demanding the greatest sacrifices of themselves and their peoples, and yet, perhaps even in their finest moments, they have been shaken to the core by doubts about its goodness (Iliad, 9.312-27, 401-9; Job 9:20-24; Eccl. 9:2-6). In the first half of this discussion seminar, we will examine in detail Homer’s account of a hero passionately dedicated to the life of virtue (Iliad, 11.783-784), Achilles. In fact, the theme of Homer’s Iliad is Achilles’ anger at the injustice he suffered, the dishonor of his valor by Agamemnon, and the profound disillusionment and questioning of his life that followed. In the second half, we turn to the most famous inquiry into Justice ever written and the foundation of all philosophy, Plato's Republic — a work that explicitly presents itself as a reform of Homer.
The readings are excerpts from the following works:
Homer, Iliad, translated by Caroline Alexander (New York, 2013).
Homer, Odyssey, translated by Albert Cook (New York, 1967).
Plato, Republic, translated by Allan Bloom (New York, 1968; third ed., 2016).
Thucydides, translated by Richard Crawley (London, 1874; reprinted, 2017).
