User:Lord Vlad333

Erik Calugar

Book 13 Summary:
Alcinous, moved by Odysseus's harrowing tale, promises that each Phaeacian man will give him a gift to build up wealth for his return to Ithaca. They feast all the next day while Alcinous' men prepare the ships. Odysseus is impatient to leave. Alcinous' men row him to Ithaca during the night as Odysseus sleeps on the ship, and we're kind of surprised he actually made it home this time. They land on a rocky grotto, unload the still sleeping Odysseus, and leave him on the shore with all his treasure. Up in the clouds, or wherever it is that gods hang out, Poseidon sees Odysseus in Ithaca and approaches Zeus angrily. He wants Odysseus to suffer. Zeus tells him that he is a god and therefore may take his revenge against a mortal any time he wants. So Poseidon finds the Phaeacians' returning ship, which is almost back to its homeland, and turns it into stone. Where it promptly sinks. Alcinous, seeing this happen, remembers the prophecy we heard in Book VIII (that his ship would be turned to stone and mountains thrown up around his island if his people were nice to strangers) and promptly whacks himself on the forehead. Meanwhile, Athene, up to her old tricks again, conjures a grey mist to hide Odysseus while he sleeps. When he wakes, Odysseus doesn't recognize his home and has no idea where he is. He thinks the Phaeacians have deceived him. After he counts his treasure and realizes none of it is stolen, Athene disguises herself as a shepherd and approaches him.

They have a little exchange, and Odysseus makes up an elaborate story about being a hunted man from Crete who fought in the Trojan War and just escaped a ship of pirates. Athene, highly amused, reveals her true form and has a hearty laugh. Then she comments that Odysseus is indeed a master liar (which is a compliment). We learn that Odysseus thought himself abandoned by the goddess after the Trojan War, but is pleased to discover that she's been the one following him around and putting protective clouds over him. Athene reaffirms that this land is Ithaca. She lifts the protective cloud so he can see clearly that this is indeed his beloved homeland. They stash the treasure safely in the grotto and start planning revenge. Athene tells Odysseus she will disguise him as a beggar, because she is the master of disguises and no one likes to look too closely at beggars anyway. She orders him to go see his swineherd in the forest while she flies to Sparta to call Telemachus home.

The Underworld
The underworld appears to be outside of the constraints of time. At the point when all the dead start to show up, the book expresses that "many men cut down in battle by bronze spears, still dressed in armor stained with their blood" came. This implies that when they die they are cursed to remain in the state that they were at the time of death for all of eternity. The phantoms who address Odysseus do appear to know about time having passed, yet they are not endeared by it, but instead stuck in a wrecked and unceasing condition of depression.

Odyssey's interpretation of death is seen all through numerous books, including book 14. Odysseus revisits his previous slave, all while the slave didn't recognize Odysseus. The slave, Eumaeus, permits Odysseus to come into his home, giving haven and food. Eumaeus gabs about the demise of his previous proprietor, and how he realizes that with no return, he is dead. He proceeds with how everything had changed while Odysseus was no more. With Eumaeus being certain that he had passed on while in battle, Odysseus attempts to guarantee him that he will restore one day and isn't likely dead, yet Eumaeus is still set on his beliefs.

Culture
Confucius comments often on how a gentlemen must conduct himself in society, and how this builds the surrounding culture. In one line from the Analects "The master said: “The brotherly son is filial when he enters, deferential when he leaves. Respectful and trustworthy, he widely cares for the multitude, and holds ren close. If after this he has remaining energy, he devotes it to studying wen.'" Confucius tells us that the good person acts in such a way that ren is cultivated in himself and the society. The attributes Confucius here gives to the morally good person are much like those he gives to the the ideal Confucian gentleman in other passages. Maybe then we should see this as a claim that being a brotherly son is one way to be a the ideal Confucian gentleman. Maybe it is a necessary aspect to being the ideal Confucian gentleman. This passage would not have sounded odd if a morally good person were exchanged for the ideal Confucian gentleman. This would be following what Confucius has already told us in 1.2, that filiality and brotherliness is the root of ren. One who is a morally good person has established this root.

The morally good person devotes any extra energy to studying wen (“culture”). If we take wen to be “culture”, specifically, for Confucius, the Zhou culture which he looks to for instruction, then we can see that there is some link between the morally good person and this culture. It looks like the morally good person is enriched by study of culture, as this fortifies the virtues the morally good person already possesses, and helps to refine these virtues further. The main goal is the cultivation of these virtues Confucius mentions, which seem to coincide with holding ren close by (does this mean ren is an emergent property arising when one has a certain collection of virtues? Or is it that the person with certain virtues will generally also hold ren close?). What contributes most to that project is a study of culture (with “culture” here thought of not in the broad sense of contemporary anthropology, but in the sense of ideal culture or high culture–that is, “culture” in the sense that we say one who has studied the Homeric epics is “cultured”. Culture in Confucius’s sense carries with it a moral value. Culture is a good–that which we might call “culture” but is either morally neutral or immoral, take brutal elements of our own or other cultures, for example, would not count as wen for Confucius. Wen is an ethical term for Confucius. This is one of the key social notions in Confucianism, one of the places it seems to differ from much western philosophy, in which the ethical focus is much more on the individual. Confucius says here, as in other places, that the source of morality is society, the ideal society, which grounds our ethical pursuits.

"1.6 The Master said: A young man should be filial within his home and respectful of elders when outside, should be careful and trustworthy, broadly caring of people at large, and should cleave to those who are ren. If he has energy left over, he may study the refinements of culture (wen)."

'''Confucius describes that being respectful to one's family members is a crucial way of conducting a good life. So a society centered around filiality embraces a culture of familial love and strength.'''

"3.14 The Master said: The Zhou could view itself in the mirror of the two previous ruling dynasties. How splendid was its pattern! And we follow the Zhou."

'''A society and an individual must be accepting of looking to the fast for guidance and understanding how it can improve based on the experiences of those in the past. I don't really think America has learned from the mistakes it has made in the past... In 1829, Andrew Jackson yearned for dictatorial power through the position of president, and many people still revere him; he's on our $20 bill for crying out loud. Enough people agree with Jackson's ideology that we got another person hungry for dictatorial power in 2016.'''

"5.15 Zigong asked, “Why is Kong Wenzi referred to by the posthumous title of Wen?” The Master said, “He was bright and loved learning, and unashamed to ask questions of those below him. That is why he is referred to as Wen.”

Although intelligent and having an appetite for learning are described as admirable qualities, it is argued that a good culture is one in which there is no sense of superiority over others in terms of wisdom.

''"6.18 The Master said: "When nature prevails over culture, you get a savage; when culture prevails over nature, you get a pedant. When nature and culture are in balance, you get a junzi."''

'''The idea that Confucius is trying to portray here is that of balance in life. The idea that you shouldn't let the rules of society take control of your life entirely, but that they should factor into the way that you live to some extent. The perfect balance of following the rules with being yourself results in a happy and fulfilled life.'''

"6.27 The Master said, Once a junzi has studied broadly in patterns and constrained them with li, indeed he will never turn his back on them."

'''A culture that puts great importance on deeply understanding the reasons for one's actions is one that is very stable and prosperous. A society built on this ideology is one that will likely not engage in political turmoil within itself. Modern society in America has a very difficult time with this concept; we are constantly trying to interpret the founding fathers in countless different ways and look at turmoil it has caused in the USA.'''

The Analects: "7.25 The Master taught by means of four things: patterns, conduct, loyalty, faithfulness."

Epictetus's Handbook: "XV. Remember that in life you ought to behave as at a banquet. Suppose that something is carried round and is opposite to you. Stretch out your hand and take a portion with decency. Suppose that it passes by you. Do not detain it. Suppose that it is not yet come to you. Do not send your desire forward to it, but wait till it is opposite to you. Do so with respect to children, so with respect to a wife, so with respect to magisterial offices, so with respect to wealth, and you will be some time a worthy partner of the banquets of the gods. But if you take none of the things which are set before you, and even despise them, then you will be not only a fellow banqueter with the gods, but also a partner with them in power. For by acting thus Diogenes and Heracleitus and those like them were deservedly divine, and were so called."

'''Both Epictetus and Confucius are discussing the concepts of loyalty, patters (culture), and good conduct, and Epictetus just elaborates on these crucial ideals through a metaphor. The importance of this is that in both texts, these values are crucial to a healthy culture.'''

The Analects: "9.5 When the Master was in danger in the state of Kuang, he said, “King Wen is dead, but his patterns live on here in me, do they not? If Tian wished these patterns to perish, I would not have been able to partake of them. Since Tian has not destroyed these patterns, what harm can the people of Kuang do to me?”

Epictetus's Handbook: "You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your power to conquer. Take care then when you observe a man honored before others or possessed of great power or highly esteemed for any reason, not to suppose him happy, and be not carried away by the appearance. For if the nature of the good is in our power, neither envy nor jealousy will have a place in us. But you yourself will not wish to be a general or senator ([Greek: prutanis]) or consul, but a free man: and there is only one way to this, to despise (care not for) the things which are not in our power."

'''Confucius describes that a good leader relies on the ideals of past leaders that made him prosperous, and Epictetus also elaborates on the idea that you must look to the past for wisdom and guidance to living a happy life. Both place an emphasis on learning from history, which I find really fitting, seeing as we are exploring lessons from history. It speaks to how wise and timeless both Epictetus and Confucius were in their teachings.'''

The Analects: "12.8 Ji Zicheng said, “Being a junzi is simply a matter of one’s plain substance. Of what use are patterns (wen)?” Zigong said, “What a shame that you have described the junzi in this way – a team of horses is not as swift as the tongue! If patterns were like plain substance and plain substance like patterns, the pelts of tigers and leopards would be like those of hounds and sheep.”

Epictetus's Handbook: "If it should ever happen to you to be turned to externals in order to please some person, you must know that you have lost your purpose in life. Be satisfied then in everything with being a philosopher; and if you wish to seem also to any person to be a philosopher, appear so to yourself, and you will be able to do this."

'''Confucius describes lessons expressed through culture as "patters" and actions as "plain substance", and argues that you need both to be in balance in order to be a good individual. Epictetus also addresses this dialogue between thought and actions when he describes one relying on meaningless actions to appear wise, and the lesson is that one does not imply the existence of the other.'''