Platonic legacies

176 Pages·2004·6.86 MB·English

by  Plato.

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653 Platonic Legacies llis HY FINITUDE AND TRANSCENDENCE
S INTERROGATING THE TRADITION P IN THE PLATONIC DIALOGUES
M Hermeneutics and the History O John Sallis Drew A. Hyland
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of Philosophy
O This book explains how to read Plato,
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alli Charles E. Scott and John Sallis, editors John Sallis IL emphasizing the philosophic importance
S A thoughtful survey of contemporary H of the dramatic aspects of the dialogues,
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3 hermeneutics in its historical context. and showing that Plato is an ironic thinker
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4 A and that his irony is deeply rooted in his
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8 THE PATH OF ARCHAIC THINKING In Platonic LegaciesJohn Sallis addresses certain archaic or exorbitant moments in Platonism. T philosophy.
Unfolding the Work of John Sallis His concern is to expose such moments as those expressed in the Platonic phrase “beyond N
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Kenneth Maly, editor being” and in the enigmatic wordchora. Thus he ventures to renew chorology and to bring it N QUESTIONING PLATONISM
The first anthology of commentary on to bear, most directly, on Platonic political discourse and Plotinian hyperontology. More TI Continental Interpretations of Plato
Sallis that shows what is genuinely unique broadly, he shows what profound significance these most archaic moments of Platonism, which N Drew A. Hyland
remained largely unheeded in the history of philosophy, have for contemporary discussions of O
in his thought: the transformative relation Explores interpretations ofPlato by Heidegger,
of reason and imagination in thinking spacings, of utopian politics, of the nature of nature, and of the relation between philosophy P C Derrida, Irigaray, Cavarero, and Gadamer.
“after Heidegger.” and tragedy. Thus addressing Platonism in its bearing on contemporary philosophy, Platonic l Y
Legacies engages, in turn, a series of philosophers ranging from Nietzsche, Heidegger, and a R
A THE SYMPOSIUM AND
Arendt to certain contemporary American Continental philosophers. These engagements focus t
VISION’S INVISIBLES o R THE PHAEDRUS
on the way in which these recent and contemporary philosophers take up the Platonic legacies O
Philosophical Explorations n Plato’s Erotic Dialogues
in their own thought and on the way in which the exposure of an archaic Platonism can redi- P
Véronique M. Fóti i M Plato
rect or supplement what they have accomplished. c
Examines the construction of vision in the E Translated and with an
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works of Heraclitus, Plato, Descartes, “Platonic Legaciesdevelops in new, important, and sometimes unpredictable ways the unparal- L N Introduction, Commentaries,
Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Nancy, leled reading of Plato that Sallis has been articulating for over a quarter of a century. His work e O and Notes by William S. Cobb
and Derrida. is incomparable.” g C Combines two of Plato’s works on a shared
— Michael Naas, author of Taking on the Tradition: a N theme: reflection on the nature of erotic
THE TIME OF MEMORY Jacques Derrida and the Legacies of Deconstruction c I love. Includes commentaries designed to
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Charles E. Scott open the dialogues to the reader and to
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Explores the mythology of memory, “Sallis demonstrates that he has learned enormously from his engagement with these thinkers. s RI stimulate further reflection.
involuntary memory, and the relation His work is a model for us all.” E
between time and memory in the context — Drew A. Hyland, author ofQuestioning Platonism: S DOUBLE TRUTH
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of questions prominent in contemporary Continental Interpretations of Plato N PPllaattoonniicc John Sallis
thought. U An anthology of deconstructive writings on
JOHN SALLIS is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at The Pennsylvania State S the doubly difficult theme of truth.
University at University Park. He has written many books, including Double Truth and E
Interrogating the Tradition: Hermeneutics and the History of Philosophy (coedited with Charles E. H
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Scott), both published by SUNY Press. LLeeggaacciieess

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A volume in the SUNY series in
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Contemporary Continental Philosophy M
Dennis J. Schmidt, editor U
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STATE UNIVERSITY OF
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NEW YORK PRESS
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www.sunypress.edu
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PLATONIC LEGACIES
SUNY SERIES IN CONTEMPORARY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Dennis J. Schmidt, editor
PLATONIC
LEGACIES
JOHN SALLIS
State University of New York Press
“Daydream,” previously published in Revue International de Philosophie, vol. 52, no. 205 (October
1998), pp. 397–410, is reprinted here as chapter 3 with permission.
Published by
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, ALBANY
© 2004 State University of New York
All rights reserved
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For information, address the State University of New York Press,
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Production, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Susan Petrie
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sallis, John, 1938–
Platonic legacies / John Sallis.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in contemporary continental philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-6237-4 (alk. paper) ISBN 0-7914-6238-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Plato. 2. Plato—Influence. 3. Platonists. I Title. II. Series.
B395.S24 2004
184—dc22 2003068664
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Nancy
With Gratitude

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Nietzsche’s Platonism 7
2 The Politics of the CÔra 27
3 Daydream 47
4 Platonism at the Limit of Metaphysics 61
5 Grounders of the Abyss 79
6 Uranic Time 103
7 What’s the Matter with “Nature”? 129
8 Tragedy from Afar 143
Index 157

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung and the Fulbright Commis-
sion I am grateful for the fellowships that allowed me to prepare this
book during an extended stay in Freiburg in 2002–03. I am grateful
also to the Revue Internationale de Philosophie, to the Graduate Faculty
Philosophy Journal, and to Indiana University Press for permission to
draw upon previously published papers. Thanks also to Nancy Fedrow
and to Ryan Drake for their generous and expert assistance.
Boalsburg
February 2004