The Argument of the Action: Essays on Greek Poetry and Philosophy

This volume brings together Seth Benardete’s studies of Hesiod, Homer, and Greek tragedy, eleven Platonic dialogues, and Aristotle’s Metaphysics.

The Argument of the Action spans four decades of Seth Benardete’s work, documenting its impressive range. Benardete’s philosophic reading of the poets and his poetic reading of the philosophers share a common ground, guided by the key he found in the Platonic dialogue: probing the meaning of speeches embedded in deeds, he uncovers the unifying intention of the work by tracing the way it unfolds through a movement of its own. Benardete’s original interpretations of the classics are the fruit of this discovery of the ＂argument of the action.＂

Seth Benardete (1930-2001) was professor of classics at New York University and lecturer in philosophy at the New School for Social Research Graduate Faculty. His books include Plato’s ＂Laws＂ and The Rhetoric of Morality and Philosophy, as well as translations of Plato’s Symposium and other works. Ronna Burger is Catherine and Henry J. Gaisman Chair in the Department of Philosophy at Tulane University. Michael Davis is professor emeritus of philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College.