In this video we go through the main moments of Jean-Pierre Vernant's argumentation, in chapter VII - "From myth to reason" - of his book Myth and Thought in Ancient Greece.

There, Vernant first presents the well-known theory of the "Greek miracle", offered by John Burnet, who maintains that, in effect, the appearance of philosophy among the Ionian thinkers, in Asia Minor, represents a true revolution insofar as which would mean the emergence, almost out of nowhere, of "thought", without further ado. The remarkable exceptionality of the Greek people, due to its capacity for observation and reasoning, would have been the main legacy, later, to the entire Western culture.

Secondly, Vernant presents the argument of Francis Cornford, who does not support Burnet's thesis and, on the contrary, affirms that this first Ionian philosophy rests completely, almost in detail on certain pre-Socratic authors, on the structure of the myths , although, yes, stripping its basic ideas of its old animist and anthropomorphizing clothes.

Gradually, these thinkers would have reached increasingly "positive" and abstract results, in search of precise conceptual definitions and respecting the principles of identity and non-contradiction, completely neglected in the symbolic structure of mythical thought.

Finally, Vernant himself complements Cornford's ideas by looking at the sociological and political changes that, during the passage of the seventh century B.C. C to VI a. C. would have led to this evolution, while clarifying how, during the birth of the classical polis -needed to discuss its ideas rationally to make room for a more democratic type of thought-, a central figure appears in all this transformation: the philosopher.

00:00 Presentation
01:29 John Burnet's position: "The Greek Miracle"
09:27 Vernant's approach through the position of Francis Cornford
23:05 Vernant's contribution on the historical context of the emergence of philosophy
32:34 Brief tour of Athens, the city of "reason"

The photos that appear at the end of the video except those of the illuminated Acropolis were taken when I had the unforgettable experience of visiting Greece, in 2018.

And to complete the information see:
https://filosofiaenimagenes.com/2022/...