Steiner presents in this book a reflection on the complex relationships between teachers and disciples: relationships of trust, power, and friendship, present in all forms of pedagogy. These essays correspond to lectures delivered by the author at Harvard University, in which he invokes a wide variety of examples: Socrates, Plato, Jesus and his disciples, Virgil and Dante, Héloïse and Abelard, Saint Augustine, Alain (Charles Émile Auguste), Heidegger and Hannah Arendt, Heidegger and Husserl, among others.
In the last chapter, he refers to several more recent authors such as Thomas Mann, Robert Musil, Popper and Agassi, Wittgenstein, Max Weber, etc. Steiner’s work is that of a scholar who elaborates on a vast amount of information concerning the works of philosophers, writers, essayists, and others.
He cites Jesus and his disciples on the same level as the other teachers, without any reference to the figure of Jesus as the Son of God. The book may prove difficult for some readers due to the lack of clear criteria in the treatment of the various authors.