Lessons from the masters

The intense personal encounter between master and disciple is what
interests George Steiner in this book, a reflection on the
infinite complexity and subtle interaction of power, trust, and passion
in the deepest forms of pedagogy. Based on the Norton Lectures
on the art and traditions of teaching, Lessons of the
Masters evokes many exemplary figures: Socrates and Plato, Jesus
and his disciples, Virgil and Dante, Brahe and Kepler, Husserl and Heidegger,
among others.
Fundamental to the evolution of Western culture are Socrates and
Jesus, charismatic teachers who left no written teachings nor
founded schools. In the efforts of their disciples, in the accounts of
passion inspired by their death, Steiner sees the beginnings of an
inner vocabulary, the encrypted recognitions of a large part of
our moral, philosophical, and theological language.
He then analyzes a series of traditions and disciplines, referring to three
underlying themes: the master's power to exploit the disciple's dependence and
vulnerability; the complementary threat of subversion and
betrayal to the mentor; and the reciprocal exchange of trust and love, of
learning and teaching between professor and student.