Turning
Subtitle: from persuasion to philosophy : a reading of Homer's Iliad
By: Michael Naas.
Series: Philosophy and literary theory
Publisher: Humanities Press; Humanities Press International Inc
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Atlantic Highlands, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 298
Subjects: Homer.; Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism -- Theory, etc.; Persuasion (Rhetoric) -- History -- To 1500.; Achilles (Greek mythology) in literature.; Philosophy, Ancient, in literature.; Trojan War -- Literature and the war.; Rhetoric, Ancient.
Description: One of the few works to apply features of contemporary philosophy to the interpretation of ancient Greek texts, Turning analyzes the representation of persuasion in pre-Platonic texts, particularly Homer's Iliad. It demonstrates how essential persuasion was in almost every relation between mortals and between mortals and gods in early Greek texts.

While being reduced to a mere psychological phenomenon by later Greek philosophy - reduced to the practice and study of rhetoric - persuasion was, for the early Greeks, a pre-ontological "force" associated with a turning toward presence. Michael Naas's work approaches the "critique of presence" in that it tries to articulate a notion - persuasion, turning - that cannot be squarely located within metaphysics.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-287) and index.