BMCR 2009.06.08: Blomqvist on Dunshirn, Griechisch fuer das Philosophiestudium. UTB 8403

Alfred Dunshirn, Griechisch fuer das Philosophiestudium. UTB 8403.
Wien:  facultas.wuv, 2008.  Pp. 172.  ISBN 9783825284039.  EUR 14.90 (pb).

Reviewed by Jerker Blomqvist, Lund University
([email protected])
Word count:  2146 words
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[Table of contents at the end of the review.]

Not too many decades ago, teachers of philosophy at European and
American universities could safely presume that their students had some
familiarity with Greek and Latin and that a number of them had studied
those languages for many years at school. That situation changed in the
latter half of the twentieth century. Today, an overwhelming majority
of those who enter the universities, including philosophy students,
have met with hardly any Latin at all and even less Greek in their
preparatory schools. The elementary courses in philosophy seem to
attract more students than before, and students with diversified
backgrounds and with various reasons for studying philosophy.
Increasing numbers of students are, of course, welcome to the
departments; the diversity of their previous education and plans for
the future are often stimulating elements of this present situation.
Even teachers of an older generation, who were accustomed to scribbling
the blackboard full with quotations in Greek and Latin, mostly adapted
themselves easily to the new conditions and would not want to
reintroduce those regulations that, at some universities, forbade
students to enroll in philosophy without evidence of a classical
education. With the present-day liberal access rules their departments
attract a considerable number of interested students. Arguably, our
times are good for philosophy.

Yet there seems to arise on occasion, both among teachers and among
students, a suspicion that a classical education would not be amiss if
you want to study philosophy. In particular, some knowledge of Greek is
often felt to be a desideratum, and there is a demand for books that
could provide an easier access to that language than a full beginner's
course of the sort offered by the classics departments. One tool for
providing such help is dictionaries or glossaries specializing in Greek
philosophical terminology, like those by Peters and Urmson.[[1]] These
mainly give explanations only of individual words or phrases, and
substantives and adjectives dominate in them. Greek philosophical texts
contain much more, and if you aspire to understand of how a Greek
philosophical text functions as a whole--including its exploitation of
the rich Greek verb system--you need a book that treats not only
vocabulary but also morphology and syntax, and in addition to that
offers some of the practical training that is a prerequisite for being
able to interpret a Greek sentence without stumbling around in a jungle
of lexicon entries and paragraphs of grammar. The most ambitious
attempt to provide such a tool that I know of is Beetham's Learning
Greek with Plato.[[2]] This is meant to be not only an introduction to
the writings of one of the leading philosophers in their original
linguistic form but also to give the students a basic linguistic
training that prepares them for the study of other Greek texts as well.

The book under review here, Alfred Dunshirn's Griechisch fuer das
Philosophiestudium, positions itself midway between a mere lexical aid
and a full beginner's course in Greek.[[3]] According to his preface,
Dunshirn aims "at offering those interested the chance to read a few
short quotations from Greek philosophers in their original form and to
obtain some information concerning their context" (p. 5). Dunshirn has
a degree in classical philology and is active in the Philosophy
Department of the University of Vienna. The book is intended for
courses in Greek for post-graduate philosophy students; it is based on
Dunshirn's experience as a teacher in those courses. The book is
written with students in mind who have no previous knowledge of Greek.
They are supposed to have a rudimentary knowledge of Latin grammatical
terminology but not of the Latin language in itself, for when Latin
words, e.g. concordantia, testimonium and fragmentum (p. 25), appear in
the text, they are accompanied by German translations. The school
grammar of Bornemann and Risch[[4]] is recommended for supplementing
the grammatical contents of the book.

The structure of the book appears clearly from Dunshirn's detailed
table of contents, which is reproduced below. Chapter B includes the
usual preliminaries of a beginner's book in Greek: alphabet, writing
and printing conventions, conventional pronunciation, etc. Dunshirn
devotes rather more space to historical matters, e.g., the prehistory
of the alphabet, than is common in comparable books, but his account of
pronunciation and spelling rules, including accents, is less extensive
than usual. A short section, with exercises, about conventions of
transcription contains information that is not often included in books
of this sort but is certainly useful to the inexperienced. Since, at
most European universities, the students are expected to use textbooks
in languages other than their own, they will come across a number of
differing conventions for transcribing Greek words. For that reason it
is important that they become aware of the fact that these conventions
are simply conventions. This introductory section also includes some
basic grammatical information, viz., paradigms of the article,
indicative present of <greek>le/gw</greek>, <greek>ei)mi/</greek> and
its participle <greek>w)/n</greek>, supplemented with a rather lengthy
discussion on the meaning of "to be", which reveals Dunshirn's ambition
to focus on what is philosophically relevant.

Other linguistic matters are treated in chapter C "Texte". This is of
course the weightiest part of the book. It is divided into three
sections, each of them devoted to a particular philosopher or group of
philosophers (pre-Socratics, Socrates/Plato, Aristotle). The only later
text appearing in the book is a passage from Plotinus (Enneads 5.1),
quoted with its German translation in section C.I.1, Exkurs b (pp.
26-27) in order to illustrate how the fragments of the pre-Socratics
have been preserved by citations in later texts. Information of that
technical character is also provided in the introduction to the
sub-sections of ch. C. This is a considerable merit of the book, since
students not previously acquainted with the conventions that classical
philologists follow when quoting the ancient writers will be confused
by references to "Parmenides (or even "Parm.") 28 B3 D.-K.", "Pl. R.
515a4", or the like. These introductory sections also list, with
comments, standard editions of the Greek texts and recommended
translations. On pp. 28-32 you find a similarly informative account of
how the entries are structured in Passow's and Liddell and Scott's
lexica (and warnings not to put too much confidence in dictionaries).
This is also useful help to inexperienced students. The same applies to
the complete lists of the preserved writings of Plato and Aristotle;
they serve as handy introductions to these two important text corpora.

The texts appearing in the book are chosen for their philosophical
content, but the principles of selection are not clear. All the
passages quoted in the book have the merit of being original texts;
none of them has been reconstituted by the author, e.g., for the
purpose of illustrating a certain grammatical phenomenon. On the other
hand, many of the texts seem to me to be too complicated for beginners.
Section C.I, e.g., starts with the Parmenides' saying <greek>to\ ga\r
au)to\ noei=n e)sti/n te kai\ ei)=nai</greek>, which allows several
different interpretations (as Dunshirn makes clear in his commentary).
Then follows the Plotinus passage mentioned above, which would not be
commonly recommended to beginners as easy reading. The third specimen
is Heraclitus frg. 1 D.-K., with a genitive absolute that is left
unexplained in the commentary (the syntax is treated only on p. 134 in
a totally different context). Evidently, the Greek passages were chosen
not to illustrate linguistic phenomena but for their philosophical
content; thus the Parmenides fragment that appears at the beginning of
the first text chapter gives Dunshirn reason to continue the discussion
on the meaning of "to be" that he had started in the last section of
the preceding, introductory chapter.

Further, the texts quoted decide what grammatical phenomena are to be
treated and in what order. Normally, an elementary course book of Greek
is structured as a step-by-step introduction to Greek grammar. You
start with the most common or simplest paradigms--say,
<greek>lo/gos</greek> and the present tense of
<greek>le/gw</greek>--and for each chapter you chose texts that
illustrate the grammatical phenomena introduced in it. Dunshirn works
the opposite way. The primary purpose of each section of his book is to
introduce his students to a particular philosopher or one of his
writings. He first chooses a short passage serving that purpose, and on
the basis of the selected text he then decides what paragraphs of
grammar are to be treated together with it. His section on the
Euthyphro may serve as an illustration of his method. The text chosen
for discussion is the introductory dialogue between Socrates and
Euthyphro, divided into two portions (2a1-6 + b1-9). In the
accompanying commentary the following grammatical phenomena are
presented (and in this order): the interrogative pronoun
<greek>ti/s</greek>, comparison of adjectives, active perfect
(exemplified with the paradigm of <greek>ge/gona</greek>), declension
of <greek>fhmi/</greek> (indicative present), middle-passive perfect
(paradigm: <greek>ge/grammai</greek>), middle future
(<greek>gnw/somai</greek>). This grammatical information occurs in
short paragraphs interspersed in Dunshirn's commentary on the contents
of the text. In fact, only a small portion of the book consists of
Greek text. For instance, in the forty-seven pages of the
Socrates/Plato section you find only about 90 full lines of original
Greek.

Dunshirn's book is intended for classroom teaching. Although
translations of all the Greek texts and solutions to the exercises are
provided in appendices (ch. D-E), it can hardly be by an autodidact
since too many linguistic complexities are left unexplained in the
commentaries. After following a course based on the book, the students
will not be fully prepared for reading Greek texts on their own. But
that is not Dunshirn's intention. He is quite aware that more training
is needed. As an aid to further studies he offers an extended
bibliography of course books, dictionaries, grammars, commentaries and
diverse manuals in German, English, French, Italian, and Latin,[[5]]
and much relevant literature is referred to in the copious footnotes,
too.

Succinct as they are, the commentaries on grammatical matters are
correct and up-to-date. Dunshirn wisely follows Bornemann and Risch's
grammar, which is now widely used in German-speaking parts of Europe
and which surpasses many similar handbooks current elsewhere. For
instance, Dunshirn's account of verbal accent, a mystery to speakers of
German, English or the Scandinavian languages, is decidedly more in
accordance with both contemporary linguistic theory and with actual
Greek usage than the corresponding paragraphs in the recently published
Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek.[[6]] The proof-reading was done with
great care. The book is practically free from those misspellings and
misplaced accents, all too frequent in comparable manuals, that mislead
the beginner and annoy the expert.[[7]] The layout is spacious and
designed in a way that makes it easy for the reader to follow the
argument with its frequent transitions from one subject to another.

Since philosophy is not my specialty, I do not comment on that part of
the book, but I find no reason to doubt that Dunshirn is as good at
Greek philosophy as at Greek grammar. All in all, the book seems to
fulfill the promise that Dunshirn gives in his preface. Also, since it
provides so much information of a technical character, it will be
helpful to students who are to use such tools for text analysis in
their future studies. Used with discretion by a committed teacher it is
likely to inspire students to take their studies of Greek to a higher
level.

CONTENTS


A. Abkuerzungen
B. Vorbemerkungen
1. Der Begriff "Grammatik"
2. Das griechische Einheitsalphabet
3. Aussprache des Altgriechischen
4. Lese- und Transkriptionsuebungen
5. <greek>ei)=nai</greek> - Sein
C. Texte
I. Philosophie vor Sokrates
1. Parmenides
Exkurs: Die Textausgaben der Fragmente der Vorsokratiker
a) Die Ausgabe von Diels und Kranz
b) Der Zitatkontext der Vorsokratikerfragmente
Exkurs: Woerterbuecher
a) Der Woerterbucheintrag <greek>noei=n</greek> im "Passow"
b) Der "Liddell-Scott"
c) Etymologische Woerterbuecher
2. Heraklit - Logos
Exkurs: Dialekte des Griechischen
3. Anaximander
4. Xenophanes
Exkurs: Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa. . .
5. Anaxagoras
Uebungen - Teil l
II. Sokrates - Platon
Vorbemerkungen
a) Quellen zu Leben und Wirken des Sokrates
b) Zitierweise. Hilfsmittel
c) Die Tetralogieneinteilung der Dialoge
1. Die erste Tetralogie
Exkurs: Die sogenannte "Rahmenhandlung" der Dialoge
a) Euthyphron
b) Apologie
c) Phaidon
2. Die zweite Tetralogie
a) Kratylos
b) Theaitetos
c) Sophistes
3. Die dritte Tetralogie
a) Parmenides
b) Phaidros
4. Politeia
5. Timaios
6. Der Mythos von den Kugelmenschen
Uebungen-Teil 2
III. Aristoteles
Vorbemerkungen
a) Zitierweise
b) Hilfsmittel, Uebersetzungen, Kommentare
c) Uebersicht ueber die Schriften des Aristoteles
1. Kategorien
2. Hermeneutik
3. Physik
4. Ueber die Seele
5. Metaphysik
a) Der erste Satz der Metaphysik
b) Eine Bestimmung des Philosophen
c) Der Satz vom Widerspruch (<greek>G</greek> 3, 1005bl9-20)
d) Die mannigfache Bedeutung des Seienden
e) <greek>du/namis</greek> - <greek>e)ne/rgeia</greek> -
<greek>e)ntele/xeia</greek>
6. Nikomachische Ethik
7. Politik
8. Rhetorik
9. Poetik
Uebungen - Teil 3
D. Uebersetzungen
E. Loesungen zu den Uebungen
F. Glossar
G. Literaturverzeichnis
H. Indices
1. Grammatikalischer Index
2. Vokabel
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Notes:


1.   F.E. Peters, Greek Philosophical Terms. A Historical Lexicon. New
York University Press, 1967; J.O. Urmson, The Greek Philosophical
Vocabulary. London: Duckworth, 1990. Both have been reprinted
repeatedly and are still available.

2.   Frank Beetham, Learning Greek with Plato: A Beginner's Course in
Classical Greek. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2007. ISBN
987-1-904675-56-3 (review: BMCR 2007.09.50).

3.   Francis H. Fobes, Philosophical Greek. An Introduction. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1957 is the only Anglophone predecessor of
Dunshirn known to me. I am aware of two comparable books from
Scandinavia, one of them written by myself and both aiming at providing
more general knowledge of Greek than Dunshirn's but less ambitious than
Fobes' (Sten Ebbesen, Filosofgraesk. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum,
1982; Jerker Blomqvist, Grekiska foer filosofer. Lund: Department of
Classics, 1997), and there may exist others elsewhere.

4.   Eduard Bornemann, Griechische Grammatik. Unter Mitwirkung von
Ernst Risch. 2nd ed. Frankfurt am Main: Diesterweg, 1978 (reprinted
repeatedly).

5.   The only things I miss there are the TLG and Pierre Chantraine,
Dictionnaire e/tymologique de la langue grecque. Paris, 1968-1980.

6.   James Morwood, Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek. Oxford
University Press 2001.

7.   I have spotted only three incorrect accents, p. 131, n. 124 (read
<greek>sw=fron</greek>), p. 154 (<greek>a)/n tis</greek>), and p. 169
(<greek>ne/os</greek>). On p. 124 the phrase from which the term
<greek>e)ntele/xeia</greek> is supposed to have been derived must be
written <greek>e)ntelw=s e)/xein</greek>.