Plato and Heidegger: a question of dialogue

376 Pages·2009·2.979 MB·English

by  Heidegger, Martin;Platon;Gonzalez, Francisco J

plato and heidegger

francisco j. gonzalez
plato and heidegger
a question of dialogue
the pennsylvania state university press
university park, pennsylvania
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gonzalez, Francisco J., 1963–
Plato and Heidegger : a question of dialogue/
Francisco J. Gonzalez.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “A study of Martin Heidegger’s engagement
with the philosophy of Plato. Examines how Heidegger’s
understanding—and misunderstanding—of Plato
can help in assessing Heidegger’s own philosophical
program”—Provided by publisher.
isbn 978-0-271-03558-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Heidegger, Martin, 1889–1976.
2. Plato.
I. Title.
b3279.h49g588 2009
193—dc22
2009009914
Copyright © 2009 The Pennsylvania State University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA 16802-1003
The Pennsylvania State University Press is a
member of the Association of American University Presses.
It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press
to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy
the minimum requirements of American National Standard
for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Material, ansi z39.48–1992.
This book is printed on Natures Natural,
which contains 50% post-consumer waste.
for shivani
and the birds of the Black Forest
whose music always accompanied me
along der Heideggerweg
Nur das Alte veraltet nie. Doch bis wir das
Alte finden, werden wir selber alt.
—Heidegger (GA 81, 245)
contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction: What Is to Be Gained from a
Confrontation Between Plato and Heidegger? 1
Part one
Heidegger’s Critical Reading of Plato in the 1920s
1
Dialectic, Ethics, and Dialogue 8
Heidegger’s Critique of Dialectic in the 1920s 8
Ethics and Ontology 29
Ethics in Plato’s Sophist 50
Heidegger and Dialogue 63
Conclusion 69
2
Logos and Being 70
The Tensions in Heidegger’s Critique 71
The Guiding Perspective of Λόγoς as Undermining
the Ontic/Ontological Distinction 72
Heidegger on Plato’s Forms 81
Being as Δύναμις 87
Conclusion: The Relation Between Being and Λόγoς 98
Part two
Heidegger on Plato’s Truth and Untruth in the 1930s and 1940s
3
From the 1931–32 and 1933–34 Courses on the Essence
of Truth to “Plato’s Doctrine of Truth”:
Heidegger’s Transformation of Plato into Platonism Through the
Interpretation of the Sun and Cave Analogies of the Republic 107
The Courses on the Essence of Truth from WS 1931/32 and WS 1933/34 107
Plato’s Truth in the Beiträge of 1936–38 136
Plato’s Doctrine of Truth in 1940 147
The End of Truth: The 1964 Retraction 161
Conclusion: The End of Truth? 167
viii contents
4
The Dialogue That Could Have Been: Heidegger on the Theaetetus 173
The Theaetetus Interpretation in Die Grundbegriffe der antiken Philosophie (SS 1926) 173
The Interpretation of the Theaetetus in the Vom Wesen der
Wahrheit Course of 1931–32 and 1933–34 182
Conclusion: Heidegger’s Orthodoxy 221
5
The 1942 Interpretation of Λήθη in the Myth of Er (Republic Book 10) 225
The Roman Versus the Greek Conception of Truth 225
Saying Λήθη in the Myth of Er 232
Purging the Myth of Er: The Ontologizing of Ethics and Politics 247
The Greek Experience of the Open: A Saying That Points and Hints Versus the “Leap” 251
Conclusion: Leaping Beyond Plato 254
Part three
Opportunities for a Dialogue with Plato in the
Late Heidegger
6
Calculative Thinking, Meditative Thinking,
and the Practice of Dialogue 260
Heidegger’s Critique of Logos in the 1930s 260
Dialogue as Bringing to Speech the Unsaid 263
Plato’s Dialectic or Hegel’s? 264
A Saying Beyond Assertion 267
Plato’s Dialogues and Heidegger’s Leap 269
Heidegger and the Dialogue Form 273
Redefining Hermeneutics 281
Back to the Beginning with Dialectic and Dialogue 288
Conclusion: Dialectic Versus Sophia Again 292
7
Dialectic and Phenomenology in “Zeit und Sein”: A Pivotal
Chapter in Heidegger’s Confrontation with Plato 293
From Dialectic and Hermeneutics to Phenomenology 294
The Auseinandersetzung with Plato 308
Conclusion 342
Works Cited 347
Index 353
acknowledgments
This book has been many years in the making, often set aside in favor of other
projects. During this time it has benefited from considerable assistance, both
institutional and personal. Initial research for the book, as well as much of
the writing of a first draft, were made possible by a year-long grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities as well as a research fellowship
from the Humboldt Foundation, which enabled my very productive stay in
Freiburg, Germany. This last opportunity would not have come about without
the invitation of Günter Figal, whose own work has from the beginning been
an inspiration for this project. Completion of the book was made possible
by another grant, this time a Major Project Completion Grant offered by my
home institution, Skidmore College.
It would be impossible for me to list here all of the people from whose work
and conversation I have profited in the present task. One person I must single
out for mention is Michael Gelven, who as my teacher when I was an under-
graduate first introduced me to both Plato and Heidegger and predisposed me
to seeing an affinity between the two. I must also mention my colleagues dur-
ing the last seventeen years in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at
Skidmore College for providing me with an ideal working environment. Then
there are all of those colleagues at other institutions whom I may see only
once or twice a year but whose philosophical friendship is an indispensable
stimulus to my work and a source of joy: they know who they are. I have also
received both encouragement and critical feedback from the many audiences
to which I have presented different aspects of my work, starting many years
ago with my first paper on Heidegger’s Sophist lectures presented at the 1995
Collegium Phaenomenologicum in Perugia, Italy. Since then I have benefitted
from presentations of my work at meetings of the Ancient Philosophy Society
(Chicago), the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy (Boston Col-
lege), the Society of Ancient Greek Philosophy (Binghamton, New York,) the
Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (Georgetown Univer-
sity), and the Societat Catalana de Filosofia (Barcelona); as well as at the Uni-
versity of New Mexico, Siena College, Trinity College, the Universitá de Pavia,
and, most recently, the Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis as part of a most
congenial and productive colloque on Heidegger and Plato. Finally, I wish to
thank two anonymous readers for Penn State Press whose comments on the
manuscript certainly helped make this a stronger book.
Work on a major project such as this one always requires the support of
family and friends. I wish especially to acknowledge my daughter, Shivani,