Athena's Plan in the Odyssey: On Teaching and Learning

Athens Corner

This is the preview to my second discussion of Homer's Odyssey for the "Fathers & Sons" series on my AthensCorner.com website. It's the sequel to my previous discussion on the Odyssey titled "The Beautiful, the Good, and the Just in Homer's Odyssey.
At issue in this is the status of Odysseus's son, Telemachus. More than merely an entryway into the Odyssey, the opening account of Athena's discussion with Telemachus reveals aspects of the proper relationship between fathers and sons that become thematic and definitive for the Odyssey as a whole. In particular, there is the definitive role any father has in his son even being able to properly become a man which, even in the best circumstances, cannot be taught to a son by his mother. In other words, there are natural hierarchies within the family which make it not simply the most foundational unit of political community but also its most important. These hierarchies, in turn, establish the possibility of children being teachable: and as the household goes, so goes the entirety of political community when the particular household represents the highest authoritative element of the polis. In other words, education as such depends upon recognition of the natural familial hierarchies which, in turn, reveal the family as either the strongest foundational unit definitive of the entire political community or its weakest link.
Accordingly, the opening scene of Athena with Telemachus represents the possibility of correction for both a great household and the people dependent upon it amid an extreme situation in which everything has seemingly gone awry. The ability of Telemachus to successfully become a man worthy of all that is attendant upon invoking the name Odysseus represents, ultimately, the worthiness of Odysseus himself to have such greatness attributed to his name. This is to say that the success of Telemachus in becoming a man is not the true beginning of Homer's Odyssey but, in fact, the true ending of the Odyssey in the sense of its titular purposiveness. The presentation and justification of that claim constitutes this discussion.