David Blank

Professor
Ancient Philosophy, Computing & Classics
Dodd 260
310-206-8562
blank@humnet.ucla.edu

I am interested in all aspects of Greek and Roman Philosophy, from the Presocratics to the later Neoplatonists. One central theme of my research has been the study of language in Greece and Rome by grammarians, philologists and philosophers. Lately, my work has focused on the Herculaneum Papyri, especially Philodemus' Rhetoric, of which I am editing several books, especially those dealing with whether rhetoric is an art, the comparison of rhetoric and philosophy as subjects of study and as ways of life, and the question of whether an art or science of rhetoric or politics is possible.