Self-study
P1
Tragic dramas written in Greece during the fifth century B.C. engender considerable scholarly debate over the relative influence of individual autonomy and the power of the gods on the drama's action. ███
Debate ·
Power of the individual v. gods
Greek tragedies engender debate on the relative influence of individual autonomy and the power of the gods.
Individual: Snell ·
Aeschylus demonstrates personal autonomy
Snell argues that Aeschylus (a playwright) demonstrates the power of the individual in his plays. His characters are said to make "free" and "personal" decisions which drive the drama of his plays.
Individual: Barbu ·
Agrees with Snell
Barbu further concludes that the Greeks had conception of individual as a free agent.
P2
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Gods: Rivier ·
Disagrees with Snell
Divine forces compel character to make their "choices." Hence, it's not so much a choice as much as a "recognition" that there is only one option.
P3
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Both: Lesky ·
Disagrees with both camps
Lesky thinks both the gods and the individual have power. The gods constrain the decision space but the individual does make a real choice. The tension between the two forces is what creates the tragedy.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
12.
a
Aeschylean drama helped ██ ████████ █ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████
No support for a “new understanding.” We don’t know whether before Aeschylean drama, ancient Greek civilization didn’t think of individuals as free agents. Aeschylean drama may be evidence that a particular understanding had emerged, but that doesn’t imply Aeschylean drama created that understanding.
b
Aeschylean drama introduced ███ ████ ██ █████████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████
No support for “new ways of understanding.” We don’t know whether before Aeschylean drama, ancient Greek civilization didn’t think of individuals as free agents. Aeschylean drama may be evidence of that a particular understanding had emerged, but that doesn’t imply Aeschylean drama created that understanding.
c
Aeschylean drama is ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████
No support for “original source of the understanding of human motivation” or the idea of what’s “most familiar” to the modern Western world.
d
Aeschylean drama accurately ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████
Supported by Barbu’s quote. He believes Aeschylean drama is “proof” that ancient Greek civilization had a certain understanding of individuals and free will. He must, therefore, think that those dramas accurately reflect ancient Greek society’s perceptions. If he did not think this, then it wouldn’t make sense to believe the dramas are evidence of what ancient Greek civilization thought.
e
Aeschylean drama embodies ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ██████
No support for the notion of freedom “most familiar” to the modern Western world.