Week SixteenWeek Sixteen1. Euripides’ Medea

2. Plato and Aristotle

3. Video

Euripides and Euripides and MedeaMedeaAn introduction

Euripides’ Euripides’ MedeaMedea Euripides’ Medea, produced in 431 B.C., the in 431 B.C., the

year that brought the beginning of the year that brought the beginning of the Peloponnesian WarPeloponnesian War, appeared earlier than Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, but it has a bitterness that is more in keeping with the spirit of a later age.

If Oedipus is, in one sense, a warning to a generation that has embarked on an intellectual revolution, Medea is the ironic the ironic expression of the disillusion expression of the disillusion that comes after the shipwreck.

rejected by most of his rejected by most of his contemporariescontemporaries Euripides is the first Greek poet to suffer

the fate of so many of the great modern writers: rejected by most of his rejected by most of his contemporariescontemporaries (he rarely won first prize and was the favorite target for the scurrilous humor scurrilous humor of the comic poets), he was universally admired and revered by the Greeks of the centuries that followed his death.

Iconoclastic Iconoclastic His Medea is typical of his iconoclastic approachhis iconoclastic approach;

his choice of subject and central characters is in itself a challenge to established canons.

He still dramatizes myth, but the myth he chooses is exotic and disturbing, and the protagonist is not a man but a woman.

Medea is both woman and foreignerboth woman and foreigner, that is, in terms of the audience’s prejudice and practice she is a representative of the two free-born groups in Athenian society that had almost no rights at all (though the male foreign resident had more rights than the native woman).

great intellectual powergreat intellectual power She is not just a woman and a foreigner, she

is also a person of great intellectual powergreat intellectual power. Compared with her the credulous king and

her complacent husband are children, and once her mind is made up, she moves them she moves them like pawns to their proper places in her like pawns to their proper places in her barbaric gamebarbaric game.

The myth is used for new purposes, to shock the members of the audience, attack their deepest prejudices, and shake them out of their complacent pride in the superiority of Greek masculinity.

Finds no redressFinds no redress The tragic hero is no longer a king, “one

who is highly renowned and prosperous such as Oedipus,” but a woman who, because she finds no redress for her she finds no redress for her wrongs in societywrongs in society, is driven by her passion to violate that society’s most sacred laws in a rebellion against its typical representative, Jason, her husband.

Earth and SunEarth and Sun All through Medea the human beings involved call on

the gods; two especially are singled out for attention: Earth and Sun.

It is by these two gods that Medea makes Aegeus swear to give her refuge in Athens, the chorus invokes them to prevent Medea’s violence against her sons, and Jason wonders how Medea can look on Earth and Sun after she has killed her own children.

These emphatic appeals clearly raise the question of the attitude of the gods, and the answer to the question is a shock. We are not told what Earth does, but Sun sends the magic chariot on which Medea makes her escape.

電影版劇情簡介： 電影版劇情簡介： http://www.imdb.cn/title/tt0066065

美狄亞，或譯米蒂亞，是古往今來最著名的復仇女性，也是所有受背叛、嫉妒所苦的女性的守護神。爲了愛上一個外邦人傑森，她抛卻公主地位、竊走國寶金羊毛、殺死弟弟，甘願隨夫遠走他鄉、漂泊失所。然而她的勇敢愛情和偉大犧牲最終卻變成一則笑話：丈夫決定另娶柯林斯公主，

換取穩定名位。美狄亞走投無路之下，展開恐怖報復：先是獻毒衣焚殺丈夫的新歡，繼而手刃兩個小孩，乘太陽神的華車遠颺，留下一無所有的負心丈夫。

導演：皮耶導演：皮耶‧‧保羅保羅‧‧帕索里尼 帕索里尼 Pier Paolo PasoliniPier Paolo Pasolini 從希臘悲劇到現代戲劇，這個故事被翻寫過無數回。 Pasolini 的版本抛開三一律 ( 注 ) 古典包袱，以一位來自遠古的情欲象徵──半人半馬怪爲敘事者，把來龍去脈從頭說起。他到土耳其和敘利亞取鏡，將場景拉回故事發生的高加索蠻荒世界，開場恍如人類學影片：一場驚心動魄、交糅恐怖與狂喜的原始儀式，美狄亞正是祭司，殺人獻祭的過程呼應了後來的血腥報復手腕。兩性戰爭被轉化爲美狄亞的史前泛靈世界與傑森的現代務實世界的對比。美狄亞嫁給傑森後，在理性世界中彷佛淪落得法力盡失。

endingending

最後，在希臘悲劇中揚長而去的美狄亞，電影卻讓她消失在熊熊烈焰中──太陽神的華輦也被現實化了，直接關涉到美狄亞的熾烈性情。就像《定理》中的性瓦解了中産價值，《美狄亞》中的巫術神話力量也反撲了現代文明。 別以爲你看錯了：飾演這位剛烈女性的，的確是歌劇女神瑪麗亞卡拉絲。雖然她在片中從未開口歌唱，但那雙引人著魔的眼睛仍然噴出了烈火。

http://video.mail.ru/mail/karelina-natalia/481

5/28316.html

Alice Y. Chang 12

PLATOPLATO 427-348/47 BCE427-348/47 BCE

An introduction

Socrates and PlatoSocrates and PlatoSocrates himself (see pp. 7-8) wrote

nothing; we know what we do about him mainly from the writings of his pupil Plato, a philosophical and literary genius of the first rank.

It is very difficult to distinguish between what Socrates actually said and what Plato put into his mouth, but there is general agreement that the Apology, which Plato wrote as a representation of what Socrates said at his trial, is the clearest picture we have of the historical Socrates.

Socrates on Socrates on TrialTrial ApologyApology

He is on trial for impiety and “corrupting the corrupting the youthyouth.”

He deals with these charges, but he also takes the opportunity to present a defense and explanation of the mission to which his life has been devoted.

A defiant speechA defiant speech

The Apology is a defiant speech; Socrates rides roughshod over legal forms and seems to neglect no opportunity of outraging his listeners.

But this defiance is not stupidity (as he hints himself, he could, if he had wished, have made a speech to please the court), nor is it a deliberate courting of martyrdom.

No compromiseNo compromiseIt is the only course possible for him

in the circumstances if he is not to betray his life’s work, for Socrates knows as well as his accusers that what the Athenians really want is to silence him without having to take his life.

What Socrates is making clear is that there is no such easy way out; he will have no part of any compromise that would restrict his freedom of speech or undermine his moral position.

the improvement of the soulthe improvement of the soulThe speech is a sample of what the

Athenians will have to put up with if they allow him to live; he will continue to be the gadfly that stings the sluggish horse.

He will go on persuading them not to be concerned for their persons or their property but first and chiefly to care about the improvement of improvement of the soulthe soul.

He has spent his life denying the validity of worldly standards, and he will not accept them now.

refused to disobey the lawsrefused to disobey the lawsHe was declared guilty and

condemned to death. Though influential friends offered

means of escape (and there is reason to think the Athenians would have been glad to see him go), Socrates refused to disobey the laws; in any case he had already, in his court speech, rejected the possibility of living in some foreign city.

executionexecutionThe sentence was duly carried

out. And in Plato’s account of the execution we can see the calmness and kindness of a man who has led a useful life and who is secure in his faith that, contrary to appearances, “no no evil can happen to a good evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after man, either in life or after deathdeath.”

Dramatic formDramatic formThe form of the Apology is dramatic:

Plato re-creates the personality of his beloved teacher by presenting him as speaking directly to the reader.

In most of the many books that he wrote in the course of a long life, Plato continued to feature Socrates as the principal speaker in philosophical dialogues that explored the ethical and political problems of the age.

The RepublicThe RepublicThese dialogues (the the RepublicRepublic the

most famous) were preserved in their entirety and have exerted an enormous influence on Western thought ever since.

Plato and Athenian politicsPlato and Athenian politics

the execution of Socrates by the courts of democratic Athens disgusted him with politics and prompted his famous remark that there was no hope for the cities until the rulers became philosophers or the philosophers, rulers.

His attempts, however, to influence real rulers―the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse in Sicily and, later, his son—ended in failure.

399 BCE399 BCEThe death of Socrates in 399

B.C., coming as it did around the turn of the century, has made it a convenient point of demarcation in the history of Greek philosophy.

““pre-Socratic philosophers”pre-Socratic philosophers”Thus Socrates’ predecessors of

the sixth and fifth centuries are commonly called the “pre-Socratic philosophers.”

Socrates represents a shift in emphasis within Greek philosophy, away from the cosmological cosmological concerns of the sixth and fifth centuries toward political and ethical matters.

Plato (427-348/47)Plato (427-348/47)Plato (427-348/47) was born into

a distinguished Athenian family, active in affairs of state;

he was undoubtedly a close a close observerobserver of the political events that led up to Socrates’ execution.

Academy 388 BCEAcademy 388 BCEAfter Socrates’ death, Plato left

Athens and visited Italy and Sicily, where he seems to have come into contact with Pythagorean philosophers.

In 388 Plato returned to Athens and founded a school of his own, the Academy, where young men could pursue advanced studies.

The first universityThe first universityIn 388 BCE Plato founded an Academy in

Athens, often described as the first university.

It provided a comprehensive curriculum, including astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory, and philosophy.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit6/unit6.html

idealismidealismThe carpenter replicates the

mental idea as closely as possible in each table he makes, but always imperfectly.

The divine craftsman: the demiurgeThe divine craftsman: the demiurge

There is a divine craftsman who bears the same relationship to the cosmos as the carpenter bears to his tables.

constructed the cosmos according to an idea or plan, so that the cosmos and everything in it are replicas of eternal ideas or forms—but always imperfect replicas because of limitations inherent in the materials available to the Demiurge.

Idea and materialIdea and materialIn short, there are two realms: a

realm of forms or ideas, containing the perfect form of everything;

and the material realm in which these forms or ideas are imperfectly replicated.

Allegory Allegory of the of the cavecave

Plato illustrated this conception of reality in his famous “allegory of the allegory of the cavecave,” found in book VII of the Republic. Men are imprisoned within a deep cave, chained so as to be incapable of moving their heads. Behind them is a wall, and beyond that a fire.

Light and shadowLight and shadowPeople walk back and forth

behind the wall, holding above it various objects, including statues of humans and animals; the objects cast shadows on the wall that is visible to he prisoners.

Imperfect images of objectsImperfect images of objectsThe prisoners see only the shadows cast by these objects; and, having lived in the cave from childhood, they no longer recall any other reality.

They do not suspect that these shadows are but imperfect images of objects that they cannot see; and consequently they mistake the shadows for the real.

order and rationality of the cosmosorder and rationality of the cosmos

He had no intention of no intention of restoring the gods of Mount restoring the gods of Mount Olympus, who interfered in Olympus, who interfered in the day-to-day operation of the day-to-day operation of the universethe universe, but he was convinced that the order and order and rationality of the cosmosrationality of the cosmos could be explained only as the imposition of an outside mind.

Physis and psychePhysis and psycheIf the physikoi found the source

of order in physis (nature), he would locate it in psyche (mind). Plato depicted the cosmos as the handiwork of a divine craftsman, the Demiurge.

Demiurge: a mathematicianDemiurge: a mathematicianBesides being a rational

craftsman, the Demiurge is a mathematician, for he constructed the cosmos on geometrical principles.

Plato’s account borrowed the four roots or elements of Empedocles: earth, water, air, and fire.

But (probably under Pythagorean influence) he reduced them to mathematical ingredients or components. Plato made these the basis of a “geometrical atomism”—associating each of the elements with one of the geometrical solids. Fire is the tetrahedron, air is the octahedron, water the icosahedron, and earth the cube. Plato also found a function for the docedahedron by identifying it with the cosmos as a whole.

"Let no one destitute of geometry "Let no one destitute of geometry enter my doors."enter my doors."

ARISTOTLEARISTOTLE

384-322 B.C.

Not a native AthenianNot a native AthenianOne member of Plato’s Academy,

Aristotle, was to become as celebrated and influential as his teacher. He was not, like Plato, a native Athenian; he was born in northern Greece, at Stagira, close to the kingdom of Macedonia, which was eventually to become the dominant power in the Greek world. Aristotle entered the Academy at the age of seventeen but left it when Plato died (347 B.C.).

Tutor to AlexanderTutor to AlexanderHe carried on his researches (he

was especially interested in zoology) at various places on the Aegean; served as tutor to the young Alexander, son of Philip II of Macedon; and returned to Athens in 335, to found his own philosophical school, the Lyceum, where he established the world’s first research library.

LyceumLyceumAt the Lyceum Lyceum he and his pupils

carried on research in zoology, botany, biology, physics, political science, ethics, logic, music, and mathematics.

Encyclopedic scopeEncyclopedic scopeHe left Athens when Alexander died in

Babylon (323 B.C.) and the Athenians, for a while, were able to demonstrate their hatred on Macedon and everything connected with it; he died a year later.

The scope of his written work, philosophical and scientific, is immense; he is represented here by some excerpts from the Poetics, the first systematic work of literary criticism in our tradition.

PoeticsPoeticsAristotle’s Poetics, translated by

James Hutton (1982), is the best source for the student.

LATIN CULTURESLATIN CULTURESRoman Empire and

【【羅馬王政時代羅馬王政時代】】古羅馬氏族制度向階級社會過渡的時代，約當公元前８世紀中葉至６世紀末葉，因傳說此時相繼有七個「王」（ rex）執政，故名。

王政時代，是羅馬的父系氏族制時代，據說當時羅馬有三百個氏族，每十個氏族組成一個胞族（庫里亞－－ Curiae ），十個胞族組成一個部落，共三個部落，三個部落構成羅馬人公社整體。

軍事民主軍事民主制制王政時代的羅馬人公社會實行軍事民主制，管理機構有三：一是元老院，由三百個氏族長組成，有權處理公共事務、批準和否決人民大會的決議。二是人民大會，由武裝的成年男子參加，每個庫里亞有一票表決權，大會通過或否決一切法律，選舉高級公職人員，其中包括對「王」的選舉。三是「王」，由人民大會選出，是軍事首長，同時又是最高祭司和審判官，但尚無真正國王的權力。

平民平民 (plebian)(plebian)王政時代已出現階級分化，有些父家長家族富裕起來，上升為氏族貴族，有的氏族成員貧困而成為「被保護人」，受貴族的剝削和奴役。

另外出現平民，他們是被征服者及外來的移民，人身自由，但不屬於羅馬氏族成員，沒有氏族權利，無權分級公地，不能參加人民大會，許多平民租佃貴族的土地，有的因借債而淪為奴棣。

階級社會階級社會王政時代的奴棣主要從事家內勞動，數量不多。貴族、被保護人、平民和奴棣構成王政時代階級對立關係的萌芽形式。由此可見，王政時代氏族制已趨於解體，階級社會正在形成。

塞維塞維‧‧圖里阿改革圖里阿改革史學界一般認為，王政時代後期，羅馬處於伊達拉亞人統治之下，公元前６世紀末，發生塞維‧圖里阿改革，改革使氏族制遭受破壞，王政時代的最後一個統治者塔克文是個暴君，到公元前５１０年（或前５０９）被黜，王政時代結束，伊達拉里人統治被解除，羅馬共和國建立起來。