Conflict and Competition: Agon in Western Greece: Selected Essays from the 2019 Symposium on the Heritage of Western Greece by Heather Reid

Conflict and Competition: Agon in Western Greece: Selected Essays from the 2019 Symposium on the Heritage of Western Greece Reviews

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  B. Rule

  This is a good collection of essays on the concept of agon in Ancient Greece, although uneven as these types of volumes often are. I'm reviewing from a dilettante's perspective, which is likely very different than a specialist in the field. There are some solid analyses of the centrality of competition in philosophy, theater, athletics, and politics here. As a modern, it can be hard to get an grasp on just how deeply embedded strife and striving were in Greek culture. There are precious few areas where it is not the axial idea driving things. The incredible honor placed upon the athletic victor as culture hero is ample evidence of their values.
  
  That athletic games constituted an orienting metaphor for all of Greek life is a very interesting idea. Further, it's clear that the Greek idea of the agon requires an even playing field: if one competitor too far exceeds the competition, it destroys the creative power of striving for honors (and incidentally, often leads to the moral degradation of the victor). One essayist here (Tobias Joho) notes Nietzsche's interesting analysis of ostracism through that lens, recognizing in the practice a stimulation of the political culture of the polis rather than a "safety valve" to eliminate dangerous figures. You get rid of the tall poppy to encourage the others to grow, not because of the inherent risk of keeping him.
  
  My favorite essays here largely focused on metaphysics of pre-Socratic philosophers, analysis of Euripides' tacit critique of Athenian hegemony through focus on the powerless under "asymmetric conflict" in The Trojan Women, a close reading of athletic victory language in Orphic burial tablets, and critical comparisons of Burckhardt and Nietzsche's analysis of agonistic culture. Another amusing but perceptive analysis by Stephen Kershner and Audrey Anton refers to the "Yoda Principle" of Greek ethics: the virtuous person does virtuous acts. Trying doesn't count. They convincingly show that this is true for Plato's Socrates and Aristotle, and to a more ambiguous degree, the Stoics.
  
  The final essay in the volume is a fitting capstone, as it compares and contrasts Nietzsche's celebration of agon as cultural vitality beating back nihilism against Burckhardt's cooler ironic acknowledgement of the deep human suffering that drives that dialectic process. The number of winners is few and the losers many, and even the winners spend most of their life in agonizing tension and PTSD to achieve those few immortal seconds of triumph. In our age where agon is rampant yet repressed, rendered a taboo in many settings, this dialogue is one that still sparks with life.