The Uses of Classical History for Contemporary Themes

January/February 2005 · Historically Speaking 15 The Uses of Classical History for Contemporary Themes: A Forum OVER THE PAST DECADE, the state ofthefield ofclassical history—particularly its relevance in the "curricula wars"—has beena matterofintensedebate, spillingoccasionally outsidetheacademy injeremiads likeWho Killed Homer? The Demise ofClassical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom. The authors oftwo recentlypublishedbooks, RichardNedLebowandJ. Peter Euben, make the case that intense engagement with ancient Greek thoughtcontinues topay dividends, particularly as weassess contemporarypoliticalthoughtandpublicpolicy. Lebow and Euben anchor ourforum on "The Uses ofClassical History for Contemporary Themes" with essays drawn, respectively , from The Tragic Vision ofPolitics: Ethics, Interests, and Orders (Cambridge University Press, 2003) andPlatonic Noise (Princeton University Press, 2003). We invitedsix distinguished classicists (Danielle Allen, Mary Lefkowitz,Josiah Ober, LorenJ. Samons, II, Barry Strauss, andCarol Thomas) to respond. Lebow andEuben conclude theforum with their replies. With heavy hearts we report thepassing ofHoward Nostrand, emeritusprofessorofromance languages atthe University ofWashington , who hadplannedtoparticipate in ourforum. Oursympathies are extended to hisfamily andcolleagues. The Uses of Classical History for Contemporary Themes* J. Peter Euben Ido not think we should "use" classical history (or in my case classical political thought) to address modern thinkers insofar as the idea ofuse furthers the instrumentahzation ofeducation and promotes both presentisrn and didacticism. By presentism I mean the acceptance of current intellectual fashions and cultural identities as the necessary context for reflection on the present; the supposition that contemporary theories and methods represent the epitome of sophistication and self-consciousness; and the dismissal ofwhat is alien, unfamiliar, and radical under the sign of pragmatism, practicality, and realism. By didacticism I mean two things. The first is having texts, events, or cultures say what one wants them to sayrather than allowing them to interrogate the questions, interpretative strategies, and intellectual categories one brings to them. The second is transforming canonical texts into a catalogue ofvirtues. Both aspects ofdidacticism were present on both sides ofthe "culture wars." Perhaps that helps explain the odd confluence between cultural conservatives who "used" classical texts to derive lessons by which to chastise their multiculturaHst critics and those multiculturalist critics who agreed that those texts contained those lessons and condemned them for it.1 For both combatants Socrates became a ventriloquized dummy rather than a gadfly or midwife, and Platonic dialogues became covert monologues in which answers were purchased at the cost ofdeepening the questions. I am not sure that idealizing "the Glory that was Greece" is any more attractive an alternative than presentism and didacticism. At least that is so when such idealizations are used to promote slavish imitation, nostalgia, or an aestheticism that relegates the Greeks to decorative appendages, like some expensive piece ofjewelrythat accessorizes an outfit . Rather than marginalize, mimic, ormonumentalize "the Greeks" we need to engage them in many senses ofthatword: to occupy the attention of, be bound to by promise or contract, become betrothed to; but also to become interlockedwith (aswith gears), bring into conflict, battle with, and contest. Part of whatIhave inmind is captured byNietzsche's insistence that classical studies must be "untimely"—that is to say, acting counter to our time and thereby acting on our time, and let us hope for the benefit ofa time to come.2 Being untimely means living in two times at once, our own and that of some other time (for him itwas ancient Greece). The alternative is being captured bythe moment and settlingfor the familiar. Such thinkingwith and outside history sustains our capacity for sur- * Roxanne Euben, Donald Moon, and George Shulman made invaluable suggestions for improvement of this essay. 1 6 Historically Speaking · January/February 2005 prise and renewal and makesus aware ofhow and what about the world escapes the categories we suppose captures it. Butuntimeliness is toovague a directive, especiallywhen, as now, itis not clearhowto be "untimely." Our time seems to be so many times at once. As FredericJameson reminds us when he talks about how difficult it is to "take the temperature of an age without instruments and in a situation in which we are not even sure there is so coherent a thing as an 'age' or 'zeitgeist' or 'system' or 'current situation' any longer."3 Under such circumstances what one person regards as untimely may seem clich...