Taming Anger The Hellenic Approach to the Limitations of Reason

Taming Anger is an important contribution to the study of emotion in the ancient world and today. From Homer to Aristotle, understanding anger and harnessing its power was at the core of Hellenic civilization. Homer created the framework for philosophical inquiries into anger, one that persisted until it was overturned by Stoicism and Christianity. Plato saw anger as the guardian of justice while Aristotle went further, conceiving of it as bound to the logos of friendship. Yet both showed, in different ways, that anger, when not nurtured properly, could become the guardian of injustice and the defender of psychological deformity. Though the philosophers sought ways to bring anger under the command of reason, they emphasized reason#xE2;#xAC;"s limited ability to withstand the impulses of anger. The Greeks#xE2;#xAC;" view of the emergence of anger in public life as an early warning sign of disease and dissolution retains its importance to this day.

Kostas Kalimtzis is a lecturer in Ancient Greek Philosophy at Arcadia University, USA, and an Honorary Research Associate at the Hellenic Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.