The Relevance of Intellectual Historian Herbert J. Muller and the Greeks in Asia Minor

Abstract

Today the notion of freedom is frequently misunderstood. Draped in partisanship, its personification is called everything from inappropriate sexual behavior to thief and robbery of the highest political office in the United States. The ideal and idea of freedom has been so distorted and corrupted it appears that, our culture could conceivably face a more critical consequence then the constitutional crisis predicted by political pundits today. Such conditions provide an interesting backdrop for an inquiry into the life of intellectual historian Herbert Joseph Muller. Hence, the scope of this study will seek to highlight the relative aspects of Muller’s life by answering four insightful questions. First, what is intellectual history? Second, who is or who was Herbert J. Muller and what factors might have led him to pursue this brand of history? Third, what was his primary contribution to historical scholarship? Finally, why does Muller’s work remain valuable to the field of history, and why does it appear that modern historians are uninterested in what he has to offer.