Oedipus the King Philosophical Chairs

Rules of engagement  Read the material and opening statement carefully; be sure to understand it.  Listen to the person who is speaking (don’t raise hands, interrupt, scoff, or cheer).  Understand differing points of view.  Contribute your own thoughts, offering your reasons succinctly as possible.  Respond to the statements only, not to the personality of the person giving it.  Change your mind about the statement as new information or reasoning is presented.  Move to the opposite side or the undecided chairs as your thinking changes (movements should not be acknowledged…)  Support the mediator in maintaining order and helping the discussion to progress.  Reflect on the experience (homework)

Aristotle asserts that Oedipus brought about his own downfall by stubbornly seeking the truth about himself despite the warnings that it will not bring him happiness. Do you agree? Yes No "I always wanted a fire truck when I was little. I never got one. That's why I'm evil, heheheheheh!"— Zorak, Cartoon PlanetThat's why I'm evilheheheheheh!Cartoon Planet

People always think that because Aristotle said a tragic hero's downfall should be due to a "tragic flaw" (hamartia), and Aristotle admired King Oedipus above all tragedies, therefore Oedipus must have a "flaw". [This is a false premise under Aristotle's very own logic.] And so they have struggled to find one!... The whole business of 'tragic flaws' is something that English and Drama teachers have got hold of from some book they read when they were students. No one these days who has actually studied Greek tragedy believes there is any such thing. –Andrew “Letters on the Classics” Right! There is NO fatal flaw. Wrong! He is flawed. What could it have been? Bad temper? King Laius under divine protection? Carelessness? Pride/Arrogance/Hubris (Are they all even the same?) Fatal curiosity? NONSENSE.

I realized something quite interesting: just about everything Aristotle says about tragic heroes is wrong. Aristotle had postulated the principle of the tragic flaw in tragedy. A hero, who is mostly good, makes some sort of mistake related to a character flaw, usually hubris or pride. However, from what I read, I realized that tragic heroes are almost never brought down by flaws or by hybrids. In fact, in most cases, the protagonist is actually destroyed by his or her virtues. In puzzling over this, I realized that Aristotle is, in fact, not trying to explain exactly what is happening in tragedy but what should be happening. He is answering a very specific challenge to the very existence of tragedy presented by Plato in the Republic Book III. Plato had argued that tragedy corrupted the audience. Aristotle's development of the tragic flaw is a response to this challenge. --The author has a Ph.D. in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. Team Aristotle Team Plato

"Fine! The gloves are off pal! C'mon, lemme see a little wrath! Smite me, O mighty smiter! You're the one who should be fired! The only one around here not doing his job is you! ANSWER ME!!!“ —Bruce Nolan, Bruce AlmightyBruce NolanBruce Almighty

Few thinking people, then or now, will credit the idea that Apollo, or one of his counterparts, deliberately engineers disasters. But Sophocles' theme rings partially true to those of us who approach the universe with a sense of awe, as a mystery where perhaps there is more than there appears to be. Life is designed, disasters and all. There is no design. Life is absurd. "Fine! The gloves are off pal! C'mon, lemme see a little wrath! Smite me, O mighty smiter! You're the one who should be fired! The only one around here not doing his job is you! ANSWER ME!!!“ —Bruce Nolan, Bruce AlmightyBruce NolanBruce Almighty

Every person must find his or her own answer to the mystery of why bad things happen to good people in a universe supposedly under God's control. Yet even if people reach different conclusions, and express them freely, people can usually still live and work together in peace and good-will. Yes No

Pride, arrogance, hubris, sin… they are all the same. True False

There is no free will in Oedipus the King. True False

In our world, very bad things do sometimes happen to very good people. Your chief security comes from what people know you can do well. You can succeed with your natural abilities, your effort, and your good character. It's safest, and the best strategy, to try to be a good person. This should work for you. Yes No

Oedipus should have listened to Tiresias. True False

Riddle of the Sphinx Who in the morning walks on four legs, at midday on two, and in the evening on three?