About
This is a notebook on the classical Greek concept of Mētis [1] as it applies to various areas within our world. One historical perspective on this word is that it represents “cunning intelligence” or the crafty intelligence used by Odysseus to outwit his enemies. It will be a collection of links, news, book notes, and thoughts on the concept. It’s not a hagiography of guile; more like a collection of observations in web form.
(1) In Michael Kenney’s book From Pablo to Osama he defines mētis as the following:
The concept, James C. Scott reminds us, comes from the ancient Greek poets and philosophers. Mētis refers to a broad range of practical skills that sailors, athletes, doctors, statesmen, and others use to respond to a “a constantly changing natural and human environment,” including prudence, perceptiveness, ingenuity, elusiveness, and deceit. This crafty intelligence “bears on fluid situations which are constantly changing and which at every moment combine contrary features and forces that are opposed to each other,” observe Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant, a pair of Greek classicists and two of the foremost authorities on the subject. (p52)
[...] The other part that makes him interesting is this slideshow where he visualizes the structure of Mētis [1]. He explains Mētis as a “mental system” for Generalship, which comes across [...]
Shimon Naveh’s Concept of Mētis « Mētis said this on April 18, 2009 at 1:27 pm |