Michael Peter Davis

Michael Peter Davis (born December 19, 1947) is an American philosopher who teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Life

Davis earned his A.B. in Philosophy and Government at Cornell University, where he studied with Allan Bloom, and his Ph.D. in philosophy at Pennsylvania State University, where he wrote a dissertation, The Duality of Soul in Plato’s Philebus, under the direction of Richard Kennington. He taught briefly at Dickinson College, Wesleyan University, and Alfred University, before moving to Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, where he has taught since 1977 and held the Sara Yates Exley Chair in Teaching Excellence. From 1981-89 Davis taught philosophy in the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and from 1995-2002 in the Graduate Program in Political Theory at Fordham University.[1][2][3] In the late 1970’s Davis began a long association and friendship with Seth Benardete, of whose thought he is one of the principal interpreters.[4][5][6][7][8] Davis currently resides in White Plains, NY, with his wife, Susan, to whom he has been married since 1969.

Academic work

Michael Davis works primarily in Greek philosophy, in moral and political philosophy, and in what might be called the “poetics” of philosophy.[9] He is the translator, with Seth Benardete, of Aristotle’s On Poetics and has written on variety of philosophers from Plato to Heidegger and of literary figures ranging from Homer and the Greek tragedians to Saul Bellow and Tom Stoppard. Davis is probably best known for his interpretations of Aristotle, where he articulates the metaphysical implications of practical life (The Poetry of Philosophy, The Politics of Philosophy, and The Soul of the Greeks) as well as the practical implications of metaphysics (The Autobiography of Philosophy).[10][11] The other primary influence on Davis’s thought is Plato, for whom the necessary connection between the practical and the theoretical shows up in the dialogic form of philosophy. For Davis, Plato reveals both the necessarily poetic character of philosophy and the necessarily philosophic character of the literature.[12][13] From Plato Davis learns that and how philosophy must be esoteric, not primarily in a political but in a metaphysical sense, a view he developed in conversation and collaboration with Seth Benardete.[14]

Bibliography

Ancient Tragedy and the Origins of Modern Science (Southern Illinois University Press, 1988). Chinese translation, Hermes, 2008.

Aristotle's Poetics: The Poetry of Philosophy (Rowman and Littlefield, 1992); reprinted as The Poetry of Philosophy: On Aristotle's Poetics (St. Augustine's Press, 1999). Chinese translation, Hermes, 2009.

The Politics of Philosophy: A Commentary on Aristotle's Politics (Rowman and Littlefield, 1996)—Choice 1996 Outstanding Academic Book Award. Chinese translation, Hermes, 2009.

The Autobiography of Philosophy: Rousseau's The Reveries of the Solitary Walker (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999). Chinese translation, Hermes, 2010.

Aristotle – On Poetics, co-translator and co-editor (with Seth Benardete) and author of the Introduction (St. Augustine's Press, 2002).

Encounters and Reflections: Conversations with Seth Benardete, participant with Robert Berman and Ronna Burger (University of Chicago Press, 2003). Chinese translation, Hermes, 2007.

Wonderlust: Ruminations on Liberal Education (St. Augustine's Press, 2006).

The Soul of the Greeks: An Inquiry (University of Chicago Press, 2011).

Essays in Honor of Richard Kennington, a special Festschrift issue of the Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Fall 1986).

With Ronna Burger, introduction to and editor of The Argument of the Action: Essays on Greek Poetry and Philosophy by Seth Benardete (University of Chicago Press, 2000).

With Ronna Burger, introduction to and editor of The Archaeology of the Soul: Essays in Greek and Roman Philosophy and Poetry by Seth Benardete (St. Augustine’s Press, 2012).

See also

Mimesis

Nicomachean Ethics

Poetics (Aristotle)

Politics (Aristotle)

Seth Benardete

References

  1. ↑ https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/search/?q=Michael+Davis. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ Flannery, Christopher. "Review of Wonderlust".
  3. ↑ http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/98353.pd. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Blitz, Mark. ""At Homer's Diner: Conversations with Seth Benardete"". The Weekly Standard.
  5. ↑ Rothstein, Edward. [<https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/16/books/shelf-life-a-classicist-s-starting-point-putting-aside-interpretations.html> "Shelf Life; A Classicist's Starting Point: Putting Aside Interpretation"] Check |url= value (help). New York Times.
  6. ↑ Davis, Michael (2017). The Eccentric Core: The Thought of Seth Benardete. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press. pp. 103–126, 224–236.
  7. ↑ Benardete, Seth (2000). The Argument of the Action. U. Chicago. pp. vii–xxi.
  8. ↑ Benardete, Seth (2012). The Archaeology of the Soul. South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's. pp. ix–xiii.
  9. ↑ Udoff, Portnoff, Yaffe (2012). The Companionship of Books. Lanham, MD: Lexington. p. 282.
  10. ↑ Smith, Stephen (1996). "Review of The Politics of Philosophy". Choice.
  11. ↑ Howland, Jacob. "Review of Aristotle's Poetics: The Poetry of Philosophy". Journal of the History of Philosophy. Retrieved April 1994. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ↑ Bradley, Octavian. "Review of The Soul of the Greeks". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  13. ↑ Mansfield, Harvey. "Review of The Soul of the Greeks". The American Spectator. Retrieved December 2012. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. ↑ Zuckert, Michael (2009). "Straussians" in The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss. Cambridge Univ. Press. pp. 284–287.

The American Spectator, "Books for Christmas" Review by Harvey Mansfield of the Soul of the Greeks, December 1, 2012 <https://spectator.org/34349_books-christmas/> Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Octavian Bradley Review of the Soul of the Greeks, May 25, 2012 <http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2012/2012-05-25.html> Claremont Review of Books, Christopher Flannery Review of Wonderlust <http://www.claremont.org/crb/article/712/> At Homer's Diner: Conversations with Seth Benardete, Review by Mark Blitz of Encounters and Reflections, The Weekly Standard, April 7, 2003 New York Times, February 16, 2002, "Shelf Life; A Classicist's Starting Point: Putting Aside Interpretations," Edward Rothstein <https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/16/books/shelf-life-a-classicist-s-starting-point-putting-aside-interpretations.html> Choice, Review by Steven Smith of The Politics of Philosophy 1996 Essays on Aristotle's "Poetics", and: Aristotle's "'Poetics": The Poetry of Philosophy, review by Jacob Howland, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 32, Number 2, April 1994, pp. 292–294 <http://muse.jhu.edu.remote.slc.edu/article/226023/pdf>

Memorial Speech for Seth Benardete: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Six9JImugkA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0g-ejDqtEA

“Speaking of the Dead: On Plato’s Menexenus,” http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/1375

“The Music of Plato’s Laches: A Grace Note,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvPO1L28ovo

Notes

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