The Promise of Polytheism: From The Odyssey to Moby Dick

The Promise of Polytheism: From The Odyssey to Moby Dick, Jan 26-Mar 2, 2011, Wednesdays, 1:00--3:00 pm with Hubert Dreyfus.
Gods, heroes, and emotions swirled around the ancient Greeks, bringing intense meaning to their lives. In contrast,
philosophers often characterize today by sadness and indecision. Using Homer's Odyssey, Dante's Divine Comedy, and
Herman Melville's Moby Dick, this course will compare and contrast the Greek, medieval, and modern worlds. We will
follow how polytheism gradually shifted to everything being understood in relation to a single God, and how this synthesis
fell apart and left our culture with a choice between nihilism and, as Moby Dick proposed, a return to polytheism.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• OLLI
• University
• Berkeley
• UC Berkeley
• Hubert Dreyfus
• polytheism
• The Odyssey
• Moby Dick
• Greeks
• Divine Comedy
• medieval
• god
• gods
• meaning in life

[S2Cents]

He praises Helen of Troy. I find disturbing that bitch caused a huge war that cost countless lives but she, ya know, did what she felt like. Whoosh.

[heideggerfreak]

I took this guy's courses in college and am about half way through his new book All Things Shining. He'll change for the better the way you read Homer, Aeschylus, Dante, and Melville.