German Political Thought and the Discourse of Platonism: Finding the Way Out of the Cave

425 Pages·2019·3.89 MB·English

by  Paul Bishop

GERMAN
POLITICAL
THOUGHT
AND THE
DISCOURSE OF
PL ATONISM
Finding the Way
out of the Cave
Paul Bishop
German Political Thought and the Discourse
of Platonism
“This book is a genuine tour de force. Paul Bishop reads the tradition of
German political thought through the prism of the allegory of the cave in
Plato’s Republic. His aim is not merely to re-contextualise and re-interpret,
but to reveal the continued relevance of the history of ideas to our own time.
In a series of penetrating interpretations ranging from Plato and Aristotle
via Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche to Heidegger, Adorno, and
Habermas, he addresses the central challenges of modernity—such as the rela-
tion between the individual and society, the promises and pitfalls of economic
development, and the role of the state. This is an original and engaging way
into the intricacies of German thought. Supremely erudite yet invariably acces-
sible, the book works on two levels: undergraduate students will be able to use
it as a general introduction, while scholars will benefit from its interpretative
subtleties and historical insights. German Political Thought and the Discourse of
Platonism is one of the most fascinating philosophical studies I have read in a
long time.”
—Henk de Berg is Professor of German at the University of Sheffield, UK, and
co-editor of Modern German Thought from Kant to Habermas (2012)
“Paul Bishop offers a stunning revision of political thinking via Plato and his
continued presence in German philosophy. Plato’s Cave is the famous allegory
that depicts humans as doomed to remain prisoners deluded by shadows on
the cave wall when their only hope of freedom is to focus on the mystical fire
itself. In a powerful analysis of foundational dialogues with Plato from Aristotle
and Rousseau to moderns such as Nietzsche, Marx, the Frankfurt School and
Habermas, Bishop offers a compelling argument about the nature of politics
in the twenty-first century. Do we build societies based upon the revolutionary
potential of individual consciousness or must we provide an Ideal model after the
example of Plato? Digging for the Platonic heart of the German p hilosophical
heritage, German Political Thought and the Discourse of Platonism plots new routes
into who we are and how we got here. This book is a must for political scien-
tists, German scholars, philosophers and all who seek positive visions for a viable
global future.”
—Susan Rowland is Chair of the Engaged Humanities and the Creative
Life M.A. at Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA. Her recent book is
Remembering Dionysus (2017)
“Paul Bishop’s new book takes us on an absorbing journey through the his-
tory of German political thought. Bishop’s central premise is that the discourse
of Platonism provides a gateway to understanding the connections between
thinkers ranging from Kant to Habermas. With clarity and concision, Bishop
brings the reader to a deeper comprehension of the German engagement
with Platonism. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the continuity
of German thought and its observations on fundamental questions regarding
human interaction with the world.”
—James M. Skidmore is Associate Professor of German Studies
and Director of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies
at the University of Waterloo, Canada
Paul Bishop
German Political
Thought and
the Discourse
of Platonism
Finding the Way Out of the Cave
Paul Bishop
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
University of Glasgow
Glasgow, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-04509-8 ISBN 978-3-030-04510-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04510-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018962021
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Cover image: © Plato’s Cave 122cm 183cm Oil on Canvas by Lalita Hamill
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Those who do not move do not notice their chains. ~
(Rosa Luxemburg, attrib.)
It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former
lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies
in the depth, where few are willing to search for it. ~
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, MuR, §166)
The more people chant about their freedom and now free they are,
The more loudly I hear their chains rattling. ~
(George Orwell, attrib.)
Preface
In the centre of Glasgow it is a short distance from Central Station to
the River Clyde and the several bridges that span it for the use of traffic,
for trains, or for pedestrians. Glasgow Bridge (or Jamaica Street Bridge)
was built between 1895 and 1899, replacing an earlier seven-arched
bridge that had been built in classical style by Thomas Telford in 1833
(itself a replacement for a yet earlier bridge built in 1772) but had subse-
quently proved to be too narrow and too shallow. From Glasgow Bridge
one can see the remains of another bridge, since disappeared: the first
Caledonian Railway Bridge, built between 1876 and 1878. This wrought
iron bridge carried four tracks, supported on giant cast iron cylinders
sunk to the bedrock—all filled with concrete, and extended above the
riverbed with great pillars of Dalbeattie granite.1 These massive pillars,
now redundant, bear the following inscriptions in Greek and English:
ΤΑ ΓΑΡ ΔΗ ΜΕΓΑΛΑ
ΠΑΝΤΑ ΕΠΙΣΦΑΛΗ ΚΑΙ ΤΟ
ΛΕΓΟΜΕΝΟΝ ΤΑ ΚΑΛΑ
ΤΩΙ ΟΝΤΙ ΧΑΛΕΠΑ
vii
viii Preface
ALL GREATNESS
STANDS FIRM IN
THE STORM
It is tempting to read these inscriptions as a typical Neoclassical
Victorian statement of confidence in the industrial future of Glasgow,
but in fact these inscriptions are much more recent. In 1990, the art-
ist Ian Hamilton Finlay won a commission from a project organised
by Television South West Arts entitled New Works for Different Places:
TWSA Four Cities Project (the cities in question being Derry, Glasgow,
Newcastle, and Plymouth). Ian Hamilton Finlay’s design for a work of
public art in Glasgow involved inscribing the words now found on these
pillars, but what does the quotation mean?
The phrase is, in fact, a quotation from book 6 of Plato’s Republic,
based on the translation into German made by the German philoso-
pher, Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). It can be found in the conclud-
ing paragraphs of his Rectoral Address, made in 1933 to the University
of Freiburg, and it is a problematic translation in what is widely
regarded as a controversial speech. Leaving aside (for now) the con-
troversy surrounding Heidegger’s address, the original Greek, τὰ γὰρ
δὴ μεγάλα πάντα ἐπισϕαλῆ, καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον τὰ καλὰ τῷ ὄντι
χαλεπά, could also be translated as “for all great things are precarious,
and, as the proverb truly says, ‘fine things are hard.’” In some respects,
the English version seems (as Lairich Rig has pointed out) directly
contrary to the meaning of Plato’s statement, for the English transla-
tion says that great things endure, while the Greek text says that great
things are hard to achieve, emphasizing instead their instability and
their impermanence (ἐπισϕαλής: “prone to fall, unstable, precarious”;
Liddell & Scott, 9 edn.]).
Few people crossing the bridge seem to notice the quotations
(although maybe the members of the short-lived Glasgow rock band,
Midnight Lion, did; see their 2011 song, “All Greatness Stands Firm”).
Yet these inscriptions, as recent as they are, serve as a reminder of the
persistence of Platonic thought which, like the pair of granite pillars,
stands strong—even if it is not regarded, like the pillars, as any longer
Preface ix
fulfilling a useful function. Although this is not a book about Glasgow,
but about German Political Thought, Ian Hamilton Findlay’s choice
for his inscription of a quotation from Plato, following the translation
made by Heidegger, provides us with a suitable symbol for the surpris-
ing presence of the Republic in the hustle and bustle of a great city as, in
the background, the trains trundle noisily over the second Caledonian
Railway Bridge into and out of Central Station; and maybe it might
prompt us to ponder the truth or otherwise of Plato’s assertion—how-
ever one chooses to translate it.
While the central theme of this volume may at first sight appear
obscure, or even quirky, this book has been written in the conviction
that it is neither of these things (however inadequate its treatment in the
following pages may be) but in fact of major significance. For we live
in a time when the focus on all things German—the enduring success-
fulness of the German economy, the role of German economic policy
in determining the fate of the euro zone, the German response to the
refugee crisis—keeps growing by the day. On 25 July 2014 the mag-
azine Newsweek placed on its title cover the following slogan: “Spot a
problem. Analyse it. Solve it. Welcome to the German Century,” while
inside Rose Jacobs wrote a story entitled “On Top of the World: This
Could Be the Start of a Century of German Success.”2 In an article pub-
lished in the Financial Times on 20 June 2015, Simon Kuper argued
that “we need German thinking.”3 And on 24 September 2015 Time
magazine named Angela Merkel not just “Person of the Year” but also
“Chancellor of the Free World.” Even those who criticize Germany rec-
ognize its importance; witness the cover of the New Statesman of 25
June 2012 which depicted Merkel as a Terminator and described her
as “Europe’s most dangerous leader.”4 Since the election of President
Trump, Merkel has come to be seen—despite domestic political prob-
lems—as more important than ever.
At the same time, this significance of the Germans is not something
to be taken for granted: as became clear when putting together a book
proposal for this title. According to one commissioning editor for a
major university press, the subject of German Political Thought was
going to be “too niche” for her list. Evidently, I disagree with this con-
clusion. To borrow a phrase from one of the articles mentioned above,
x Preface
we need to understand German thinking (which does not exclude
us from understanding how other people, such as the French, also
think…).5 And a point of entry into the tradition of German Political
Thought is one that is by no means foreign to us, for it can be found in
the discourse of Platonism.
After all, there has long been a culture of engagement with the dis-
course of Platonism in the English-speaking world,6 even if this engage-
ment has, in more recent times, become attenuated. In the middle of the
seventeeth century, a group of philosophers and theologians, known as the
Cambridge Platonists because of their connections with the University of
Cambridge, revived interest in the philosophical discourse of Platonism.7
Among the Cambridge Platonists were such figures as Ralph Cudworth
(1617–1688), the author of a study originally planned in three vol-
umes, entitled The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678; 3 vols,
1845),8 and Henry More (1614–1687), the author of (among many
other works) a Manual of Ethics (1666), the Divine Dialogues (1668),
and a Manual of Metaphysics (1671). Other members of this group of
thinkers were Benjamin Whichcote (1609–1683), John Smith (1618–
1652), Peter Sterry (1613–1672), Nathaniel Culverwell (1619–1651),
John Worthington (1618–1671), as well as Viscountess (Anne) Conway
(1631–1679), George Rust (d. 1670), and John Norris (1657–1711).
In the eighteenth century, the London-born scholar Thomas Taylor
(1758–1835) undertook an extensive programme of translating
Platonic and Neoplatonic works. Taylor composed for himself the fol-
lowing motto: “No servile scribe am I, nor e’er shall be, / My sire is
Mind, whose sons are always free,” and his epitaph (again, written by
himself) expresses the resilience of attitude with which he went to his
grave: “Health, strength, and ease, and manhood’s active age, / Freely
I gave to Plato’s sacred page. / With Truth’s pure joys, with Fame my
days were crown’d / Tho’ Fortune adverse on my labours frown’d.” As
these lines hint, Taylor’s life, personally as professionally, was not an
easy one; yet, although he was mocked in his day and excluded from
the academic establishment, and although the accuracy of his work
has been questioned (but also defended), he proved to be instrumental
in cultivating and nurturing an interest in the discourse of Platonism
among such British writers as William Blake (1757–1827), Percy Bysshe