Great Ideas: Greek Philosophers, Citizens, and Heroes

In this course, we will look at foundational texts of Western philosophy and literature to study perennial questions of citizenship, statesmanship, and heroism. We will examine the works of revered thinkers and writers like Plato, Thucydides, and Homer to study these questions of great contemporary import. Through this course, students will examine how we can best be exemplary heroes, leaders, and citizens in the modern world. Three core texts guide this study: Homer’s case study of the tragic hero in Hector the Trojan in the Iliad, Pericles’ Funeral Oration, and Plato’s Crito.

We are grateful to Jennifer and David Millstone for supporting our education initiatives for exceptional 7th and 8th grade students.

Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft

Aaron Tugendhaft studied history and philosophy at the University of Chicago, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Sorbonne. Since receiving his doctorate in ancient Near Eastern Studies from New York University in 2012, he has taught broadly within the humanities on four continents and has become a staunch advocate of traditional liberal education as a corrective to premature professionalization, academic hyperspecialization, and political polarization. His most recent book, The Idols of ISIS: From Assyria to the Internet (University of Chicago Press, 2020), is a philosophical meditation on an Islamic State video of iconoclasm that explores the political power of images and the significance of their destruction. In fall 2021, he joined the history department and became a director of interdisciplinary programs at the Ramaz School in New York City.

Great Ideas: Greek Philosophers, Citizens, and Heroes

Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft

Thank you for subscribing to our E-Newsletter

Sign up for our E-Newsletter