Homer and Classical Philology

Friedrich Nietzsche

Description

Although he later rose to prominence as an innovative and controversial philosopher whose ideas influenced everyone from existentialist thinkers to the Nazi movement, Friedrich Nietzsche was trained in philology and published his earliest works on that topic. This essay takes a look at the use of mythology and language in the ancient Greek poet's most important works, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 août 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776527182
• Langue: English

Extrait

HOMER AND CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY
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FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
Edited by
OSCAR LEVY
Translated by
J. M. KENNEDY
 
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Homer and Classical Philology First published in 1910 ISBN 978-1-77652-718-2 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Homer and Classical Philology Endnotes
Homer and Classical Philology
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( Inaugural Address delivered at Bâle University, 28th of May 1869. )
At the present day no clear and consistent opinion seems to be heldregarding Classical Philology. We are conscious of this in the circlesof the learned just as much as among the followers of that scienceitself. The cause of this lies in its many-sided character, in the lackof an abstract unity, and in the inorganic aggregation of heterogeneousscientific activities which are connected with one another only by thename "Philology." It must be freely admitted that philology is to someextent borrowed from several other sciences, and is mixed together likea magic potion from the most outlandish liquors, ores, and bones. It mayeven be added that it likewise conceals within itself an artisticelement, one which, on æsthetic and ethical grounds, may be calledimperatival—an element that acts in opposition to its purely scientificbehaviour. Philology is composed of history just as much as of naturalscience or æsthetics: history, in so far as it endeavours to comprehendthe manifestations of the individualities of peoples in ever newimages, and the prevailing law in the disappearance of phenomena;natural science, in so far as it strives to fathom the deepest instinctof man, that of speech; æsthetics, finally, because from variousantiquities at our disposal it endeavours to pick out the so-called"classical" antiquity, with the view and pretension of excavating theideal world buried under it, and to hold up to the present the mirror ofthe classical and everlasting standards. That these wholly differentscientific and æsthetico-ethical impulses have been associated under acommon name, a kind of sham monarchy, is shown especially by the factthat philology at every period from its origin onwards was at the sametime pedagogical. From the standpoint of the pedagogue, a choice wasoffered of those elements which were of the greatest educational value;and thus that science, or at least that scientific aim, which we callphilology, gradually developed out of the practical calling originatedby the exigencies of that science itself.
These philological aims were pursued sometimes with greater