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The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures
Lessons of the Masters
When we talk about education today, we tend to avoid the rhetoric of "mastery," with its erotic and inegalitarian overtones. But the charged personal encounter between master and disciple is precisely what interests George Steiner in this book, a sustained reflection on the infinitely complex and subtle interplay of power, trust, and passions in the most profound sorts of pedagogy. Based on Steiner's Norton Lectures on the art and lore of teaching, "Lessons of the Masters" evokes a host of exemplary figures, including Socrates and Plato, Jesus and his disciples, Virgil and Dante, Heloise and Abelard, Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the Baal Shem Tov, Confucian and Buddhist sages, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger, Nadia Boulanger, and Knute Rockne.
Pivotal in the unfolding of Western culture are Socrates and Jesus, charismatic masters who left no written teachings, founded no schools. In the efforts of their disciples, in the passion narratives inspired by their deaths, Steiner sees the beginnings of the inward vocabulary, the encoded recognitions of much of our moral, philosophical, and theological idiom. He goes on to consider a diverse array of traditions and disciplines, recurring throughout to three underlying themes: the master's power to exploit his student's dependence and vulnerability; the complementary threat of subversion and betrayal of the mentor by his pupil; and the reciprocal exchange of trust and love, of learning and instruction between master and disciple.
Forcefully written, passionately argued, "Lessons of the Masters" is itself a masterly testament to the high vocation and perilous risks undertaken by true teacher and learner alike.
Pivotal in the unfolding of Western culture are Socrates and Jesus, charismatic masters who left no written teachings, founded no schools. In the efforts of their disciples, in the passion narratives inspired by their deaths, Steiner sees the beginnings of the inward vocabulary, the encoded recognitions of much of our moral, philosophical, and theological idiom. He goes on to consider a diverse array of traditions and disciplines, recurring throughout to three underlying themes: the master's power to exploit his student's dependence and vulnerability; the complementary threat of subversion and betrayal of the mentor by his pupil; and the reciprocal exchange of trust and love, of learning and instruction between master and disciple.
Forcefully written, passionately argued, "Lessons of the Masters" is itself a masterly testament to the high vocation and perilous risks undertaken by true teacher and learner alike.
198 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
George Steiner
187 books555 followersSee also: George A. Steiner, author on Management and Planning.
Dr. Francis George Steiner was an essayist, novelist, philosopher, literary critic, and educator. He wrote for The New Yorker for over thirty years, contributing over two hundred reviews. Among his many awards, he received The Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award from Stanford University 1998. He lived in Cambridge, England, with his wife, historian Zara Shakow Steiner.
In 1950 he earned an M.A. from Harvard University, where he won the Bell Prize in American Literature, and received his Ph.D. from Oxford University (Balliol College) on a Rhodes Scholarship in 1955. He was then a scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, for two years. He became a founding fellow of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge in 1961, and has been an Extraordinary Fellow there since 1969. Additionally, Steiner accepted the post of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva in 1974, which he held for 20 years, teaching in four languages. He became Professor Emeritus at Geneva University on his retirement in 1994, and an Honorary Fellow at Balliol College at Oxford University in 1995. He later held the positions of the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow of St. Anne's College at Oxford University from 1994 to 1995, and Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University from 2001 to 2002.
Dr. Francis George Steiner was an essayist, novelist, philosopher, literary critic, and educator. He wrote for The New Yorker for over thirty years, contributing over two hundred reviews. Among his many awards, he received The Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award from Stanford University 1998. He lived in Cambridge, England, with his wife, historian Zara Shakow Steiner.
In 1950 he earned an M.A. from Harvard University, where he won the Bell Prize in American Literature, and received his Ph.D. from Oxford University (Balliol College) on a Rhodes Scholarship in 1955. He was then a scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, for two years. He became a founding fellow of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge in 1961, and has been an Extraordinary Fellow there since 1969. Additionally, Steiner accepted the post of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Geneva in 1974, which he held for 20 years, teaching in four languages. He became Professor Emeritus at Geneva University on his retirement in 1994, and an Honorary Fellow at Balliol College at Oxford University in 1995. He later held the positions of the first Lord Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative Literature and Fellow of St. Anne's College at Oxford University from 1994 to 1995, and Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University from 2001 to 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 21, 2016
Lo amé. La mente brillante de Steiner se mete por los caminos de la pedagogía, entrando a esa relación entre maestros y discípulos, esas relaciones que han sido famosas, maestros sobresalientes, desde Sócrates, Jesús, hasta maestros como Nadia Boulanger, o Alain.
Siempre me ha atraído el mundo de la pedagogía, y esa relación que se crea entre dos personas cuando uno enseña, otro aprende. Una delicia de principio a fin.
Siempre me ha atraído el mundo de la pedagogía, y esa relación que se crea entre dos personas cuando uno enseña, otro aprende. Una delicia de principio a fin.
September 8, 2008
I glommed onto this particular tome in a reference Alan Bennet made in an interview several years ago. A depressing amount of Steiner's arguments sailed harmlessly over my head; he uses allusions and casual references to Ovid, Schopenhauer, Nietzche et al with an ease I can only envy (at least, at this point). Still, his monologue on the Teacher/Student relationship is worthy of consideration, especially in today's politically-charged pedagogical climate. In no particular order, going over this book in the only fashion I feel I could pull off worth a damn, I give you:
What I learned from George Steiner
1. The transmission of knowledge is inherently erotic. I'm not sure how. Steiner argues that the student's intellectual submission before the Master is charged with eros, and to overlook this potential disaster/boon (witness Socrates and Alciabades, Abelard and Heloise, Plato and any boy with pecs...) is naive and limiting. I don't think current laws allow me to explore this matter any further. And Steiner, you'd better stay the hell away from my third hour.
2. A teacher can measure his success by his disciples' ultimate rejection of his tenets. "To teach greatly is to awaken doubts in the pupil, to train for dissent. It is to school the disciple for departure...A valid Master should, at the close, be alone." I buy that.
3. The study of the humanities is at odds with that of science and math. It's ridiculous to argue that we'd be bereft of radiation without Madame Curie, but we would not have the Sistine Chapel without Michaelangelo. I'd have to respectfully disagree here. Read Tom Stoppard: "What we lose to history will be picked up along the way...or rewritten in a completely different language. You should no more grieve the loss (of the books of Alexandria) than you should a shoelace lost on the sidewalk." (Paraphrased)
4. High school teachers suck. We have a "subconsciously vengeful mediocrity" and are "more or less amiable gravediggers" a la Yorrick. Hey, Steiner, no offense, but fuck off, all right? If you had any material on presentation besides lectures and q&a, I might be impressed.
5. We can thank Goethe for the eternal credo: "He who cannot, teaches." I'd cuss him out too, were he not already 176 years dead.
6. The charged relationship between Master and Disciple is dangerous (it can result in castration, like with Abelard and Heloise), a case of one-upmanship (Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler; Max Brod and Franz Kafka); it can seduce and destroy you (Mephistopholes and Faustus); it can kill you (Socrates); you can be good at it and still reviled (the strange, sad case of Georges Palante); yet all of these dizzying possibilities underscore the raw power, responsibility and rush (my new three R's of education) of the one profession without which there would be no other professions.
7. It is extremely difficult to figure a rate of exchange for sharing one's passions with students. At least, in the academic world.
8. Some teachers have had stringent requirements for their students, sometimes to their detriment (Pythagoras), sometimes beneficially so (Zen masters).
9. The fact that I need to reread this book (a third time, I might add) to even come close to absorbing it satisfactorally, is a testament to both my failures as a teacher, and my doggedness, which is one of my greatest assets as a teacher.
10. I have so got to read the following stories: "The Lesson of the Master," Henry James; "Of This Time, Of That Place" (author?); "The Lesson and the Secret" (author?); The Dying Animal, Philip Roth.
What I learned from George Steiner
1. The transmission of knowledge is inherently erotic. I'm not sure how. Steiner argues that the student's intellectual submission before the Master is charged with eros, and to overlook this potential disaster/boon (witness Socrates and Alciabades, Abelard and Heloise, Plato and any boy with pecs...) is naive and limiting. I don't think current laws allow me to explore this matter any further. And Steiner, you'd better stay the hell away from my third hour.
2. A teacher can measure his success by his disciples' ultimate rejection of his tenets. "To teach greatly is to awaken doubts in the pupil, to train for dissent. It is to school the disciple for departure...A valid Master should, at the close, be alone." I buy that.
3. The study of the humanities is at odds with that of science and math. It's ridiculous to argue that we'd be bereft of radiation without Madame Curie, but we would not have the Sistine Chapel without Michaelangelo. I'd have to respectfully disagree here. Read Tom Stoppard: "What we lose to history will be picked up along the way...or rewritten in a completely different language. You should no more grieve the loss (of the books of Alexandria) than you should a shoelace lost on the sidewalk." (Paraphrased)
4. High school teachers suck. We have a "subconsciously vengeful mediocrity" and are "more or less amiable gravediggers" a la Yorrick. Hey, Steiner, no offense, but fuck off, all right? If you had any material on presentation besides lectures and q&a, I might be impressed.
5. We can thank Goethe for the eternal credo: "He who cannot, teaches." I'd cuss him out too, were he not already 176 years dead.
6. The charged relationship between Master and Disciple is dangerous (it can result in castration, like with Abelard and Heloise), a case of one-upmanship (Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler; Max Brod and Franz Kafka); it can seduce and destroy you (Mephistopholes and Faustus); it can kill you (Socrates); you can be good at it and still reviled (the strange, sad case of Georges Palante); yet all of these dizzying possibilities underscore the raw power, responsibility and rush (my new three R's of education) of the one profession without which there would be no other professions.
7. It is extremely difficult to figure a rate of exchange for sharing one's passions with students. At least, in the academic world.
8. Some teachers have had stringent requirements for their students, sometimes to their detriment (Pythagoras), sometimes beneficially so (Zen masters).
9. The fact that I need to reread this book (a third time, I might add) to even come close to absorbing it satisfactorally, is a testament to both my failures as a teacher, and my doggedness, which is one of my greatest assets as a teacher.
10. I have so got to read the following stories: "The Lesson of the Master," Henry James; "Of This Time, Of That Place" (author?); "The Lesson and the Secret" (author?); The Dying Animal, Philip Roth.
December 27, 2020
Ottima rassegna di esempi eccezionali della relazione maestro- allievo e insieme un catalogo illuminante di voci filosofiche, letterarie e musicali che permette di entrare in contatto con l' essenza della ricerca del sapere premettendo il socratico non sapere. Di contro un' utile selezione delle relazioni infinite che nascono dall' incontro- scontro tra menti e tra persone. Ancora un saggio utile al quale attingere per riscoprire vecchie letture sulla base di questo campo d' indagine, da Hesse de Il gioco delle perle di vetro a Henry James, the Master appunto, senza trascurare Dante fra Virgilio e Brunetto Latini. Molto interessanti i connubi tra filosofi in relazioni etero o omoerotiche e i risvolti biografici che ne derivano. Utile anche per chi voglia riflettere sulla deriva attuale e sull' apparente assenza di maestri.
November 25, 2007
I have fallen in the habit of taking a book with me to church, which I suppose is better than falling out of the habit of going at all. It is arrogant, but after suffering through so many years of empty, vacant sermons, it seems an excusable conceit. It is not as if I couldn’t put the book down should things get interesting. Meanwhile, I have read some great biographies: of Teresa, Juan de la Cruz, Francis, and some interesting spiritual reading, such as the Holy Longing.
Anyway, I knew Steiner wouldn’t quite fit the mold, but the topic is discipleship and the association of Jesus and Master was enough to persuade to sneak the book through the doors. And its not as if it didn’t have a moral lesson: its cover art is a cut from Regnault’s Socrates Pulling Alcibiades Away from Sensual Pleasure.
It is a demanding and highly philosophical (which, for Steiner, generally involves Heidegger) look at the relationship of teachers and pupils through the histories of some rather famous relationships: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras and on through Moses, Jesus, Paul and Augustine and then Dante and Shakespeare all the way down to Freud, Sartre, Strauss, and Popper.
He states that genuine teaching is a dangerous enterprise, and quotes Walter Benjamin in defining teaching as an exercise that occurs between the lines, an act of disclosure. He nervously explores the erotic tension that exists between master and disciple, wherein the transmission of knowledge and learning demands an intimate submission/trust. His focus on Dante and the transmission of knowledge in the Divine Comedy could easily, and probably should be, read in church. Marlowe’s Faustus conveys the danger of teaching, as does his study of Heidegger in Nazi Germany. The book is always profound, and exactly what a teacher of thirty years would enjoy. Steiner says, “…to teach, to teach well, is to be an accomplice to transcendent possibility.” Ah, to know a student who could draw out that possibility. But, for teaching skills? Not so much.
Anyway, I knew Steiner wouldn’t quite fit the mold, but the topic is discipleship and the association of Jesus and Master was enough to persuade to sneak the book through the doors. And its not as if it didn’t have a moral lesson: its cover art is a cut from Regnault’s Socrates Pulling Alcibiades Away from Sensual Pleasure.
It is a demanding and highly philosophical (which, for Steiner, generally involves Heidegger) look at the relationship of teachers and pupils through the histories of some rather famous relationships: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras and on through Moses, Jesus, Paul and Augustine and then Dante and Shakespeare all the way down to Freud, Sartre, Strauss, and Popper.
He states that genuine teaching is a dangerous enterprise, and quotes Walter Benjamin in defining teaching as an exercise that occurs between the lines, an act of disclosure. He nervously explores the erotic tension that exists between master and disciple, wherein the transmission of knowledge and learning demands an intimate submission/trust. His focus on Dante and the transmission of knowledge in the Divine Comedy could easily, and probably should be, read in church. Marlowe’s Faustus conveys the danger of teaching, as does his study of Heidegger in Nazi Germany. The book is always profound, and exactly what a teacher of thirty years would enjoy. Steiner says, “…to teach, to teach well, is to be an accomplice to transcendent possibility.” Ah, to know a student who could draw out that possibility. But, for teaching skills? Not so much.
April 21, 2012
Rewarding essays on teaching and learning, derived from a series of lectures. Impressive for their great depth and breadth, also for the ease of the writing and hence of the reading.
A relatively personal note: One figure discussed here is the French teacher of the mid–20th century known to practically everyone in France at the time as "Alain." He was an instructor to and early influence on Simone Weil, with whom I became fascinated a few years ago. He was discussed, but rather briefly, in at least one biography of her, so it was a pleasure to learn more about him here.
A relatively personal note: One figure discussed here is the French teacher of the mid–20th century known to practically everyone in France at the time as "Alain." He was an instructor to and early influence on Simone Weil, with whom I became fascinated a few years ago. He was discussed, but rather briefly, in at least one biography of her, so it was a pleasure to learn more about him here.
March 17, 2020
I have to admit since reading Tolstoy or Dostoevsky I have have become a George Steiner junkie. I can't stop reading his books. I am so in awe of his erudition and his thought process. In Lessons of the Masters he is more interested in the relationships betweens masters and their acolytes than the lessons. It took me realize where he was going with this book but it proved to be an encyclopedic review of famous master student relations from Socrates on. Steiner looks at the arts, the sciences, Rabbi Akiba to the Bal Shem Tov, and a brief look at Eastern philosophies and religions.
November 30, 2020
3.5
Algunos pasajes de profundidad conmovedora. Muy al modo en que lo describe Lukács, a propósito del genero ensayo: Una emoción conceptual, o un concepto que arranca emociones. Los puntos principales de discusión, a su vez que las anécdotas históricas (paradigmáticas de un modo estereotipico de relación entre Maestro y discipulo), fueron seductoras y detonaban reflexiones importantes sobre el magisterio. Ademas, deja perlas bibliograficas hermosas, listas para ser guardadas y referidas posteriormente. No obstante, la excesiva utilización del anecdota histórico, asi como la amplitud de los personajes referidos se acumulan a un punto que obnubila las ideas principales, restándoles fuerza. Quizás un analisis mas rico en terminos de profundidad de analisis sería posible de haber elegido menos casos, pero entiendi que con ello se podría perder una de las reflexiones primordiales: el arraigo, desde siempre, del Maestro en la historia de la humanidad.
Algunos pasajes de profundidad conmovedora. Muy al modo en que lo describe Lukács, a propósito del genero ensayo: Una emoción conceptual, o un concepto que arranca emociones. Los puntos principales de discusión, a su vez que las anécdotas históricas (paradigmáticas de un modo estereotipico de relación entre Maestro y discipulo), fueron seductoras y detonaban reflexiones importantes sobre el magisterio. Ademas, deja perlas bibliograficas hermosas, listas para ser guardadas y referidas posteriormente. No obstante, la excesiva utilización del anecdota histórico, asi como la amplitud de los personajes referidos se acumulan a un punto que obnubila las ideas principales, restándoles fuerza. Quizás un analisis mas rico en terminos de profundidad de analisis sería posible de haber elegido menos casos, pero entiendi que con ello se podría perder una de las reflexiones primordiales: el arraigo, desde siempre, del Maestro en la historia de la humanidad.
March 11, 2015
Tras veinticinco años de ejercer la docencia, George Steiner concibió estas “Lecciones de los maestros”, una exquisita reflexión “en torno a uno de los misterios clave del ser humano como especie biológica y cultural: la historia del saber, la historia de la paideia y de la pedagogía, la teología de la enseñanza”, como discierne a su vez Adolfo Castañón.
Los textos reunidos en este volumen –las prestigiosas Eliot Norton Lectures que Steiner impartió en Harvard entre 2001 y 2002– son un asombroso encuentro de mentores y alumnos, una cadena de enseñanza que va de Pitágoras a Empédocles, de Sócrates a Platón a Aristóteles, de Virgilio a Dante, o de Husserl a Heidegger, amén de recuperar documentos y personajes capitales en torno de la interacción maestro-discípulo, como los textos bíblicos y la Torá, San Agustín, Montaigne, Shakespeare o personalidades intelectuales más recientes, como Thomas Mann, Paul Valéry, Saul Bellow, Fernando Pessoa y Yasunari Kawabata, entre muchísimos más.
Por ello Manuel Arranz afirma: “…si la palabra escrita no escucha a quien la lee, quien lee sí la escucha a ella en cambio. Alain, el único filósofo para quien el apelativo ‘maestro de pensamiento’ no es un eufemismo retórico, aconsejaba: ‘Es preciso leer y releer a los Maestros: Platón, Aristóteles, Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hegel, Comte y Marx. Leerlos y releerlos como contemporáneos, en cierto sentido, entre sí pero también nuestros’. Hoy sólo tendríamos que añadir algunos nombres a la lista. El de Steiner sería uno de ellos”.
Los textos reunidos en este volumen –las prestigiosas Eliot Norton Lectures que Steiner impartió en Harvard entre 2001 y 2002– son un asombroso encuentro de mentores y alumnos, una cadena de enseñanza que va de Pitágoras a Empédocles, de Sócrates a Platón a Aristóteles, de Virgilio a Dante, o de Husserl a Heidegger, amén de recuperar documentos y personajes capitales en torno de la interacción maestro-discípulo, como los textos bíblicos y la Torá, San Agustín, Montaigne, Shakespeare o personalidades intelectuales más recientes, como Thomas Mann, Paul Valéry, Saul Bellow, Fernando Pessoa y Yasunari Kawabata, entre muchísimos más.
Por ello Manuel Arranz afirma: “…si la palabra escrita no escucha a quien la lee, quien lee sí la escucha a ella en cambio. Alain, el único filósofo para quien el apelativo ‘maestro de pensamiento’ no es un eufemismo retórico, aconsejaba: ‘Es preciso leer y releer a los Maestros: Platón, Aristóteles, Montaigne, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hegel, Comte y Marx. Leerlos y releerlos como contemporáneos, en cierto sentido, entre sí pero también nuestros’. Hoy sólo tendríamos que añadir algunos nombres a la lista. El de Steiner sería uno de ellos”.
February 18, 2018
Termino este libro con una sensación algo agridulce.
Por una parte, es una fuente fértil en reflexiones, referencias y conocimiento. A través del recorrido que hace por algunos ejemplos de la relación maestro-discípulo, incide en todo un abanico de cuestiones que distintas ramas de la filosofía han discutido durante siglos. Para legos en humanidades, como yo, es fascinante descubrir nuevas preguntas y, a la vez, explorar las respuestas que han dado sabios de distintas sociedades.
Por otra parte, sin embargo, algunas de las referencias o "mini-historias" requieren una cierta base de literatura, historia y filosofía que no todo lector tiene y me he quedado con la sensación de no haber aprovechado totalmente el libro.
Este es, pues, un libro que, dependiendo de la base cultural del lector, requiere un cierto esfuerzo de reflexión, documentación y comprensión. En mi opinión, ese esfuerzo merece la pena (8/10).
Por una parte, es una fuente fértil en reflexiones, referencias y conocimiento. A través del recorrido que hace por algunos ejemplos de la relación maestro-discípulo, incide en todo un abanico de cuestiones que distintas ramas de la filosofía han discutido durante siglos. Para legos en humanidades, como yo, es fascinante descubrir nuevas preguntas y, a la vez, explorar las respuestas que han dado sabios de distintas sociedades.
Por otra parte, sin embargo, algunas de las referencias o "mini-historias" requieren una cierta base de literatura, historia y filosofía que no todo lector tiene y me he quedado con la sensación de no haber aprovechado totalmente el libro.
Este es, pues, un libro que, dependiendo de la base cultural del lector, requiere un cierto esfuerzo de reflexión, documentación y comprensión. En mi opinión, ese esfuerzo merece la pena (8/10).
October 29, 2017
Este libro es una compilación de una serie de clases sobre la labor de enseñar, dictadas por Steiner en la Universidad de Harvard.
A lo largo de estas lecciones, Steiner con gran lucidez hace un análisis profundo y comparativo de diversos aspectos como la enseñanza oral y escrita, los grandes maestros de la historia, la relación maestro – discípulo, los maestros en filosofía, religión, artes y ciencias, etc, la enseñanza en la modernidad.
Su análisis siempre tiene ejemplos puntuales y trata casos específicos, lo cual convierte este ensayo en una lección muy iluminadora, en la que Steiner saca conclusiones lúcidas y fundamentadas.
Por este libro desfilan ilustres personajes como Sócrates, Jesús, Platón, Aristóteles, Kepler, Kafka, Alain, Popper, Baal Shem Tov y tantos otros con anécdotas reveladoras y algunas veces contradictorias de sus propias enseñanzas.
A lo largo de estas lecciones, Steiner con gran lucidez hace un análisis profundo y comparativo de diversos aspectos como la enseñanza oral y escrita, los grandes maestros de la historia, la relación maestro – discípulo, los maestros en filosofía, religión, artes y ciencias, etc, la enseñanza en la modernidad.
Su análisis siempre tiene ejemplos puntuales y trata casos específicos, lo cual convierte este ensayo en una lección muy iluminadora, en la que Steiner saca conclusiones lúcidas y fundamentadas.
Por este libro desfilan ilustres personajes como Sócrates, Jesús, Platón, Aristóteles, Kepler, Kafka, Alain, Popper, Baal Shem Tov y tantos otros con anécdotas reveladoras y algunas veces contradictorias de sus propias enseñanzas.
August 17, 2008
I have to take it on faith that half the references are apt and are adding layers to his relatively simple arguments. I am not nearly erudite enough to refute or agree with the the format, presentation, or assertions made in this book. I suppose the intended audience comprises specialists and "hardcore" literary academics. Digression: This is part of the problem, when the those that love the craft (both in reading and creating) alienate themselves from the common people. Education at it's heart and soul is a very liberal and pragmatic endeavor, and for any group to entrance themselves with their own hall of mirrors effectively makes you impotent to the people you are trying to serve. Wait...I guess this book did teach me something about teachers after all.
September 24, 2017
Uno dei migliori libri che ho letto in questi ultimi mesi.
Ricco e profondo, affronta una delle relazioni più importanti della nostra vita: quella tra maestro e allievo, portando anche casi esemplari delle diverse modalità con cui questa relazione può svilupparsi nel tempo, con modalità a volte distruttive.
Ricco e profondo, affronta una delle relazioni più importanti della nostra vita: quella tra maestro e allievo, portando anche casi esemplari delle diverse modalità con cui questa relazione può svilupparsi nel tempo, con modalità a volte distruttive.
September 10, 2023
Počas olympijskych hier v Londýne som sa túlala Camden Townom, často som sa strácala v malých knihkupectvách. Hľadala som tam jedinú knihu, ktorú v tom čase chcel môj muž. Na Slovensku o nej nechyrovali a poštovné zo zahraničia bolo príliš drahé. A potom som ju našla vo Foyles na Charing Cross Road. Bol to posledný kus. Čakal na mňa, vravela som si. Samozrejme, že som ju kúpila a samozrejme, že bol z nej muž viac nadšený ako z nejako zápasu na olympiáde, z ktorého sa v ten večer vrátil.
Lekcie majstrov sme počas našich ciest po svete našli v knižniciach niektorých kamarátov, ktorých sme navštívili. To bolo radosti, to boli potom debaty. Prednášky Georgea Steinera na Harvarde k diskusiám samé nabádajú. Prečítajte si ich, konečne môžete aj v slovenčine vo fantastickom preklade Martiny Ivanovej.
Steiner, ktorý pôsobil na Princetone, Oxforde, Cambridgei, či Sorbonne, sa v týchto textoch venuje vzťahu medzi Majstrami a žiakmi v histórii filozofie, literatúry, umenia a vedy. Sú poctou všetkým učiteľom/kám, chválou tých, ktorí vedú svojich žiakov k tomu, aby ich prevýšili.
“Kto musí vojsť, aby študenti vstali?”
“(…) túžba po poznaní, intenzívna potreba pochopiť veci okolo seba, je hlboko prítomná u tých najlepších mužov a žien. Tak ako aj poslanie učiteľa. Žiadne iné remeslo nie je privilegovanejšie.”
“Naozajstné učenie vyvoláva v žiakoch pochybnosť, je nácvikom na stretnutie s nesúhlasom. Pripravuje učeníkov na odchod. (…) Pravý Majster musí na konci ostať sám.”
Šesť prednášok Georgea Steinera z rokov 2001 až 2002 sa vyznačujú veľkolepou originalitou a monumentálnosťou. Nepreháňam. Nič podobné som na školách nepočula a nečítala v žiadnej odbornej literatúre. Toto je kniha, ktorá si zaslúži vašu pozornosť, nech si ju prečítate na pár otvorení ako ja, alebo sa k nej budete pravidelne vracať ako môj muž.
“Zlí, frustrovaní učitelia zabili v dôsledku neživého učenia alebo podvedome, mstiac sa za vlastnú priemernosť, v miliónoch žiakov vášeň pre matematiku, poéziu, logické myslenie.”
“Autentické učenie je životným poslaním.”
Lekcie majstrov sme počas našich ciest po svete našli v knižniciach niektorých kamarátov, ktorých sme navštívili. To bolo radosti, to boli potom debaty. Prednášky Georgea Steinera na Harvarde k diskusiám samé nabádajú. Prečítajte si ich, konečne môžete aj v slovenčine vo fantastickom preklade Martiny Ivanovej.
Steiner, ktorý pôsobil na Princetone, Oxforde, Cambridgei, či Sorbonne, sa v týchto textoch venuje vzťahu medzi Majstrami a žiakmi v histórii filozofie, literatúry, umenia a vedy. Sú poctou všetkým učiteľom/kám, chválou tých, ktorí vedú svojich žiakov k tomu, aby ich prevýšili.
“Kto musí vojsť, aby študenti vstali?”
“(…) túžba po poznaní, intenzívna potreba pochopiť veci okolo seba, je hlboko prítomná u tých najlepších mužov a žien. Tak ako aj poslanie učiteľa. Žiadne iné remeslo nie je privilegovanejšie.”
“Naozajstné učenie vyvoláva v žiakoch pochybnosť, je nácvikom na stretnutie s nesúhlasom. Pripravuje učeníkov na odchod. (…) Pravý Majster musí na konci ostať sám.”
Šesť prednášok Georgea Steinera z rokov 2001 až 2002 sa vyznačujú veľkolepou originalitou a monumentálnosťou. Nepreháňam. Nič podobné som na školách nepočula a nečítala v žiadnej odbornej literatúre. Toto je kniha, ktorá si zaslúži vašu pozornosť, nech si ju prečítate na pár otvorení ako ja, alebo sa k nej budete pravidelne vracať ako môj muž.
“Zlí, frustrovaní učitelia zabili v dôsledku neživého učenia alebo podvedome, mstiac sa za vlastnú priemernosť, v miliónoch žiakov vášeň pre matematiku, poéziu, logické myslenie.”
“Autentické učenie je životným poslaním.”
April 17, 2022
I stumbled on this excellent title via a you tube review of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The reviewer suggested that every nuance in Muriel Spark's novel is alluded to in Lessons of the Masters. In deed what excites me is how Steiner's revelations are both ancient and modern and can be applied without too much poetic licence to many teacher-student relationships in lower or higher education. Miss Brodie's dealings with her 'my girls' reveals all the range of emotions between hero-worshipping and eventual betrayal as between the philosopher Husserl and his student Martin Heidegger in the emergence and arguments of existentialism. The dilemma of the passing on of information from the teacher to the student is precisely expressed by Fredrick Nietzsche, quoted in Steiner, when the German philosopher says 'authentic discipleship should end in rejection. The true disciple can only be the one who 'will learn to follow himself'. [p117] This equation helps understand how Sandy Stranger is Miss Brodie's special student and is the one that rejects Miss Brodie. Steiner connects these high considerations to the present state of university education in America and the UK and the threat of claims of sexual harassment - the erotic power between teacher and student, even within the same sex - that could destroy the essence of the teacher student relationship and its implicit emotional force. Steiner also argues that this essence is largely not written but spoken and therefore all but ethereal. Claims of abuse because of the intimate nature of relations between master and pupil are almost impossible to disprove. Miss Brodie's tragedy is that she doesn't understand the step beyond the pain of betrayal which Steiner and Nietzsche expose in this beam of high idealism, 'after rejection the master will return to 'the great noon'. Only then will Zarathustra and his disciples have become fellow celebrants and 'children of one hope'.
July 28, 2025
The writer's insistent name dropping, referencing, alluding, and the assumption that you would both be aware of all references with little explanation and I imagine be impressed, is a sad consequence of what is likely a lively mind that has been overwhelmed by the culture of academia. Like many of his profession, Steiner is tremendously self-conscious under the weight of the history of ideas. I wish this accomplished teacher and thinker would expound on the profession without the fear that his audience will fault him for failing to properly cite the history of every thought. If the text would focus less on impressing us with names and references, it would be very interesting to hear some of his ideas, such as his inherent eroticism in teaching, developed.
February 25, 2021
Muy bueno el trabajo de Steiner para esta publicación, muy distinta de sus textos filosóficos anteriores, por ejemplo el de presencias reales. Es más, al iniciar su lectura vino a mi mente al maestro J.L. Borges, por la facilidad de vincular los personajes.
Steiner logra desarrollar una fantástica relación entre los grandes maestros de la historia y sus discípulos, pero lo más notorio es la influencia que destaca el maestro en sus pupilos.
En lo particular me gustó mucho la "triada" Husserl, Hidegger, Arendt.
Steiner logra desarrollar una fantástica relación entre los grandes maestros de la historia y sus discípulos, pero lo más notorio es la influencia que destaca el maestro en sus pupilos.
En lo particular me gustó mucho la "triada" Husserl, Hidegger, Arendt.
August 12, 2020
Ένα κλασικό βιβλίο για τον ρόλο του δασκάλου και για την εξέλιξη της έννοιας από την αρχαιότητα μέχρι σήμερα. Πρόκειται για έξι διαλέξεις που έδωσε ο Steiner στο Harvard το 2001-2002. Αποτελεί αφετηρία για προβληματισμό για τους δασκάλους όλων των βαθμίδων. Ο Meister Steiner έχει το προσόν της συνολικής εποπτείας της βιβλιογραφίας σχετικά με το θέμα της διασκαλίας. Διαβάστε το! Προσεγμένη μετάφραση με ελάχιστα λάθη (ούτε 20).
May 19, 2021
"La libido sciendi, el deseo de conocimiento, el ansia de comprender, está grabada en los mejores hombres y mujeres. También lo está la vocación de enseñar. No hay oficio más privilegiado. Despertar en otros seres humanos poderes, sueños que están más allá de los nuestros; inducir en otros el amor por lo que nosotros amamos; hacer de nuestro presente interior el futuro de ellos: ésta es una triple aventura que no se parece a ninguna otra."
GS
GS
January 24, 2023
Este es un ensayo exquisito sobre la labor de los maestros en la conformación del pensamiento humano. Steiner es súper digerible y polémico, sobre todo cuando habla de la tradición y esperable relación afectiva entre maestro y alumno. Cosa que funcionaba con los griegos, pero ahora le llamamos acoso:
"El influjo erótico que el magister tiene a su disposición, las tentaciones sexuales que exhibe el alumno, consciente o no, polarizan la relación pedagógica".
"El influjo erótico que el magister tiene a su disposición, las tentaciones sexuales que exhibe el alumno, consciente o no, polarizan la relación pedagógica".
December 10, 2021
Challenging & mind expanding. Connecting great teaching across the ages in great Teachers and Students throughout culture.
Rereading this alongside the classics he examples, would be instructive. Brilliant insight; old school scope.
Rereading this alongside the classics he examples, would be instructive. Brilliant insight; old school scope.
January 12, 2020
Horrível.
October 11, 2023
Des pistes intéressantes pour comprendre la légitimité d'un homme à enseigner à un autre. Et sur les différents modes de relations entre un maître et son disciple.
May 9, 2024
Ακόμα ένα μάθημα του Δασκάλου!
June 30, 2024
Interessante visão sobre o ensino
July 24, 2014
Interesante... incomprensible... pero interesante...
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