The Greeks and the Irrational

Originating from a series of lectures given at Berkeley in 1949, The Greeks and the Irrational by E. R. Dodds is rightly considered a classic in its field. Throughout these lectures, Dodds challenges the traditional view of Greek culture as a triumph of rationalism and poses the critical question: "Why should we attribute to the ancient Greeks an immunity from 'primitive' modes of thought which we do not find in any society open to our direct observation?" In response, he employs the fields...