Böcker av Peter J. (Davidson College Ahrensdorf

This book demonstrates the crucial role played by Homer as a philosophic thinker in the thought of Plato, Machiavelli, and Nietzsche concerning the relation among politics, religion, and philosophy and in their debates concerning human nature, morality, the proper education for human excellence, and the best way of life.

This book shows that Homer was not only a great poet but also a great thinker. Peter J. Ahrensdorf shows that Homer elevates human virtue over reverence for the gods, celebrates the wisdom of the poet over the heroism of the warrior, and teaches that the courageously questioning Achilles is superior to Hector and Odysseus.

In this book, Peter Ahrensdorf examines Sophocles' powerful analysis of a central question of political philosophy and a perennial question of political life: should citizens and leaders govern political society by the light of unaided human reason or religious faith?