On Germans And Other Greeks: Tragedy And Ethical Life

Product Description On Germans and Other GreeksTragedy and Ethical LifeDennis J. SchmidtWhat Greek tragedy and German philosophy reveal about the meaning of art for ethical life.'Schmidts investigation of tragedy is a highly significant, powerful work, one with farreaching consequences. It bears on our understanding of the role of the arts and of philosophical thinking in our culture.' Rodolphe GaschIn this illuminating work, Dennis J. Schmidt examines tragedy as one of the highest forms of human expression for both the ancients and the moderns. While uncovering the specifically Greek nature of tragedy as an exploration of how to live an ethical life, Schmidts elegant and penetrating readings of Greek texts show that it was the beauty of Greek tragic art that led Kant and other German thinkers to appreciate the relationship between tragedy and ethics. The Germans, however, gave this relationship a distinctly German interpretation. Through the Greeks, the Germans reflected on the enigmas of ethical life and asked innovative questions about how to live an ethical life outside of the typical assumptions and restrictions of traditional Western metaphysics. Schmidts engagements with Schelling, Hegel, Hlderlin, Nietzsche, and Heidegger show how German philosophical appropriations of Greek tragedy conceived of ethics as moving beyond the struggle between good and evil toward the discovery of community truths. Enlisting a wide range of literary and philosophical texts, some translated into English for the first time, Schmidt reveals that contemporary notions of tragedy, art, ethics, and truth are intimately linked to the Greeks.Dennis J. Schmidt is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University. He is author of The Ubiquity of the Finite and translator of Ernst Blochs Natural Law and Human Dignity.Studies in Continental ThoughtJohn Sallis, general editor May 2001432 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, bibl., indexcloth 0253338689 $49.95 L / 38.00paper 0253214432 $24.95 s / 18.95 From Library Journal This rewarding new book by Schmidt (The Ubiquity of the Finite; philosophy, Villanova Univ.) explores the fixation on Greek tragedy of major postKant ian German thinkers including Hegel, Schelling, Nietzsche, and Heidegger and the Romantic poet H lderlin. By offering a fresh reading of Hegel's influential interpretation of Sophocles' Antigone as a paradigmatic text about ethics, Schmidt debunks the twin clich s of German thinking as either tyrannically enthralled by or in competition with Greek antiquity. A careful reconstruction of Plato's and Aristotle's analyses of tragedy as potentially edifying representations of human suffering is supplemented by evidence of how H lderlin, Nietzsche, and Heidegger resisted becoming the mere chorus to Hegel's powerful voice, and how the confrontation with tragedy compelled German philosophy to break free of longstanding metaphysical, Cartesian assumptions. Supplementing the philosophical readings of tragedy by contemporary thinkers such as Martha Nussbaum and Judith Butler, this deeply felt book suggests that tragedies offer insights into ethical truth even and especially for our posthistorical age. The book includes apt translations of several key texts from the German idealist tradition, some rendered in English for the first time. Recommended for academic libraries and specialized collections in literature and philosophy. Ulrich Baer, New York Univ. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Dennis J. Schmidt is Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University. He is author of The Ubiquity of the Finite and translator of Ernst Bloch's Natural Law and Human Dignity.