Benardete was born in Brooklyn into an academic family. His father, Maír José Benardete, was a professor of Spanish at Brooklyn College and expert on Sephardic culture.[2] His older brother José Benardete was a noted philosopher.[3] His younger brother Diego Benardete is a professor of mathematics at the University of Hartford. Seth was married to Jane, a professor of English at Hunter College in Manhattan; and they had two children, Ethan and Alexandra.
Career
At the University of Chicago in the 1950s he was a student of Leo Strauss, along with Allan Bloom, Stanley Rosen and several others who were to go on to illustrious academic careers. Philipp Fehl was one of his fellow students and a good friend. Benardete wrote his doctoral dissertation on Homer (recently reprinted as Achilles and Hector: The Homeric Hero by St. Augustine's Press). His publications range over the spectrum of classical texts and include works on Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, the Attic tragedians, and most especially Plato and Aristotle. While his prose is considered by some to be dense and cryptic, as a teacher he regularly impressed his students with his tremendous erudition, which was certainly not limited to classical literature, and by his willingness to take seriously the opinions and thoughts of all his students. Many consider him to be one of America's greatest classical scholars: Harvey Mansfield and Pierre Vidal-Naquet are among those who have praised his achievements.
Benardete's method of reading is described by his posture as a reader, following Strauss, in this way: the great writers in a tradition are to be treated as powerful thinkers who have complete control over what they say, how and when they said it, and what they omit. The reader thus risks fundamentally misunderstanding the text of a great author if he dissects elements of the text in such a way that they appear capable of explanation through principles of psychology, anthropology, or other methods which assume that the critic has a greater depth of understanding of the text (or of the human condition) than the author. Further, each successive "great" writer in a tradition must be assumed to be fully aware and in control of the elements of the philosophical and artistic conversation that arises in the foundational texts. With this perspective Benardete was able to find threads of unity in authors whose works apparently lack cohesiveness (e.g., Herodotus). In the spirit of the continuing engagement of moderns with the classical authors, Benardete showed great respect for the various traditions of commentary (the Alexandrians, the Byzantine editors, and the German tradition of Altertumswissenschaft) in contrast to more recent trends in scholarship which sometimes tend to homogenize the thought of great writers into their cultures and to adduce bits of textual evidence to prove a point without due regard to the entirety of the text from which it is excerpted.
Among Benardete's most important works are Herodotean Inquiries (The Hague, 1969); The Being of the Beautiful: Plato’s Theaetetus, Sophist, and Statesman (Chicago, 1984); Socrates’ Second Sailing: On Plato’s Republic (Chicago, 1989); The Rhetoric and Morality of Philosophy: Plato’s Gorgias and Phaedrus (Chicago, 2009); The Tragedy and Comedy of Life: Plato’s Philebus (Chicago, 2009); The Bow and the Lyre: A Platonic Reading of the Odyssey (Lanham, MD, 1997); Plato’s Laws: The Discovery of Being (Chicago 2000); Plato’s Symposium (with Allan Bloom, Chicago 2001).
^Studies in Honor of M. J. Benardete. Essays in Hispanic and Sephardic Culture, ed. Izaak A. Langnas and Barton Sholod, Las Americas Publishing Co., New York 1965
The Benardete Archive – An ongoing project of bibliography, biography, recollections of his courses and appreciation of his contribution to classical scholarship.
Coming to the College, The University of Chicago 1948–52, 1954–55 – An excerpt from Encounters and Reflections: Conversations with Seth Benardete edited by Ronna Burger.
Review of Seth Benardete, Encounters & Reflections – Review and appreciation by a colleague at NYU.
Biography, Bibliography and Introduction to his work.
August 23, 2023
seth, benardete, april, 1930, november, 2001, american, classicist, philosopher, long, member, faculties, york, university, school, addition, teaching, positions, harvard, brandeis, john, college, annapolis, benardete, fellow, national, endowment, humanities, . Seth Benardete April 4 1930 November 14 2001 was an American classicist and philosopher long a member of the faculties of New York University and The New School In addition to teaching positions at Harvard Brandeis St John s College Annapolis and NYU Benardete was a fellow for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung in Munich 1 Seth BenardeteBornApril 4 1930DiedNovember 14 2001Alma materUniversity of ChicagoAwardsNEH FellowshipEraContemporary philosophyRegionWestern philosophySchoolContinental philosophyInstitutionsThe New SchoolThesisAchilles and Hector The Homeric Hero 1955 Doctoral advisorLeo StraussDoctoral studentsRonna BurgerMain interestsAncient philosophyInfluences Plato Aristotle Leo Strauss Contents 1 Life and family 2 Career 3 References 4 External linksLife and family EditBenardete was born in Brooklyn into an academic family His father Mair Jose Benardete was a professor of Spanish at Brooklyn College and expert on Sephardic culture 2 His older brother Jose Benardete was a noted philosopher 3 His younger brother Diego Benardete is a professor of mathematics at the University of Hartford Seth was married to Jane a professor of English at Hunter College in Manhattan and they had two children Ethan and Alexandra Career EditAt the University of Chicago in the 1950s he was a student of Leo Strauss along with Allan Bloom Stanley Rosen and several others who were to go on to illustrious academic careers Philipp Fehl was one of his fellow students and a good friend Benardete wrote his doctoral dissertation on Homer recently reprinted as Achilles and Hector The Homeric Hero by St Augustine s Press His publications range over the spectrum of classical texts and include works on Homer Hesiod Herodotus the Attic tragedians and most especially Plato and Aristotle While his prose is considered by some to be dense and cryptic as a teacher he regularly impressed his students with his tremendous erudition which was certainly not limited to classical literature and by his willingness to take seriously the opinions and thoughts of all his students Many consider him to be one of America s greatest classical scholars Harvey Mansfield and Pierre Vidal Naquet are among those who have praised his achievements Benardete s method of reading is described by his posture as a reader following Strauss in this way the great writers in a tradition are to be treated as powerful thinkers who have complete control over what they say how and when they said it and what they omit The reader thus risks fundamentally misunderstanding the text of a great author if he dissects elements of the text in such a way that they appear capable of explanation through principles of psychology anthropology or other methods which assume that the critic has a greater depth of understanding of the text or of the human condition than the author Further each successive great writer in a tradition must be assumed to be fully aware and in control of the elements of the philosophical and artistic conversation that arises in the foundational texts With this perspective Benardete was able to find threads of unity in authors whose works apparently lack cohesiveness e g Herodotus In the spirit of the continuing engagement of moderns with the classical authors Benardete showed great respect for the various traditions of commentary the Alexandrians the Byzantine editors and the German tradition of Altertumswissenschaft in contrast to more recent trends in scholarship which sometimes tend to homogenize the thought of great writers into their cultures and to adduce bits of textual evidence to prove a point without due regard to the entirety of the text from which it is excerpted Among Benardete s most important works are Herodotean Inquiries The Hague 1969 The Being of the Beautiful Plato s Theaetetus Sophist and Statesman Chicago 1984 Socrates Second Sailing On Plato s Republic Chicago 1989 The Rhetoric and Morality of Philosophy Plato s Gorgias and Phaedrus Chicago 2009 The Tragedy and Comedy of Life Plato s Philebus Chicago 2009 The Bow and the Lyre A Platonic Reading of the Odyssey Lanham MD 1997 Plato s Laws The Discovery of Being Chicago 2000 Plato s Symposium with Allan Bloom Chicago 2001 References Edit contemporarythinkers org Studies in Honor of M J Benardete Essays in Hispanic and Sephardic Culture ed Izaak A Langnas and Barton Sholod Las Americas Publishing Co New York 1965 Jose Benardete 1928 2016 updated Daily Nous dailynous com Retrieved 2 March 2018 Harvey C Mansfield Seth Benardete 1930 2001 originally published in The Weekly Standard November 27 2001 External links EditThe Benardete Archive An ongoing project of bibliography biography recollections of his courses and appreciation of his contribution to classical scholarship Coming to the College The University of Chicago 1948 52 1954 55 An excerpt from Encounters and Reflections Conversations with Seth Benardete edited by Ronna Burger Review of Seth Benardete Encounters amp Reflections Review and appreciation by a colleague at NYU Biography Bibliography and Introduction to his work Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Seth Benardete amp oldid 1158659118, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
