
The Disordered Soul: Themis and PTSD
Yale professor Tamar Gendler continues her course Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature with a lecture on Aristotle's theory of virtue as the alignment of instinctive response with reflective commitment. She explains habituation through the analogy of a musician mastering an instrument by practicing as if already skilled, and contrasts this with the dissonance that arises when behavior betrays one's values. The lecture turns to Jonathan Shay's study of Vietnam veterans with PTSD, comparing their experiences to soldiers in the Iliad, where commanding officers betray themis, the Greek concept of what is right. Gendler traces how that betrayal produces a lasting loss of social trust in both ancient and modern soldiers, with a middle section addressing the relationship between elite universities and the military. The talk moves from ancient ethics to clinical psychology and literary analysis in under forty five minutes.