Murder, Logic, and Embryology: The Beginnings of Political and Moral Philosophy in Aischylos’ Oresteia

Abstract

In this paper, we argue that the trial scene in Aischylos’ Eumenides exhibits attempts at “internal critique,” that is, arguments refuting a thesis “from within,” for example, by identifying a logical inconsistency. Apollo, Orestes, and the Erinyes employ such techniques with varying success in three argumentative moves pertaining to murder, revenge, and kinship, thus showing and teaching the audience the art of such argument. While these techniques are typically considered Socratic-Platonic, we argue that this is a decisive moment in the history of argumentation, and possibly the first juncture in extant Greek literature where a character explicitly points out a contradiction.