The Essence of Truth: On Plato’s Cave Allegory and Theaetetus

271 Pages·2002·11.48 MB·English

by  Martin Heidegger

THE ESSENCE OF TRUTH
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THE ESSENCE OF TRUTH
On Plato's Cave Allegory and Theaetetus
Martin Heidegger
Translated by Ted Sadler
continuum
Continuum
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Originally published as Vom Wesen der Wahrheit © Vittorio Klostermann GmbH,
Frankfurt am Main, 1988
Die Herausgabe dieses Werkes wurde aus Mitteln von INTER NATIONES,
Bonn gelordert
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
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by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the written permission of
The Continuum Publishing Company.
This English translation © Continuum 2002
First published by Continuum 2002
Impact edition 2004
Reprinted 2007, 2009
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-10: 0-8264-7704-6 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-7704-0 (paperback)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heidegger, Martin, 1889-1976.
[Vom Wesen der Wahrheit. English]
The essence of truth: on Plato's parable of the cave allegory and Theaetetus/Martin
Heidegger; translated by Ted Sadler,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8264-7704-6
1. Truth. 2. Plato. Theaetetus. 3. Knowledge, Theory of. I. Sadler, Ted, 1952-
II. Title.
B3279.H47 E5 2002c
121—dc21 2002023392
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire
CONTENTS
Translator's Foreword xii
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
§ 1 The Questionworthiness of Our 'Self-Evident'
Preconceptions Concerning 'Essence' and Truth' 1
§ 2 History of the Concept of Truth: Not Historical
Confirmation of Preconceptions, But Return to
the Originary Greek Experience of dtXf|0eia
(Unhiddenness) 6
PART ONE
THE CLUE TO THE 'ESSENCE' OF 'AAH0EIA
Interpretation of the Allegory of the Cave in Plato's
Politeia
CHAPTER 1
The Four Stages of the Occurrence of Truth 17
A. The First Stage: the Situation of Man in the
Underground Cave 18
§ 3 The Unhidden in the Cave: the Shadows 19
B. The Second Stage: a 'Liberation' of Man within the
Cave 23
V
CONTENTS
§ 4 New Features of &Xf)6eia Revealed by the
Unsuccessful Attempt at Liberation 24
C. The Third Stage: the Genuine Liberation of Man to
the Primordial Light 29
§ 5 The Ascent of Man from the Cave Towards the
Light of the Sun 31
a) Levels of Unhiddenness outside the Cave 31
b) Four Questions Concerning the Visible
Connections of &Xf|0eia in the Occurrence of
Liberation 33
§6 Idea and Light 35
a) The Seeing of What-Being 35
b) The Essence of Brightness: Transparency 39
c) The Fundamental Accomplishment of the
Idea: Letting-through the Being of Beings 42
§ 7 Light and Freedom. Freedom as Bond to the
Illuminating 43
§ 8 Freedom and Beings. The Illuminating View as
Projection of Being (Exemplified by Nature,
History, Art and Poetry) 44
§ 9 The Question Concerning the Essence of Truth as
Unhiddenness 47
a) Gradations of Unhiddenness. The Ideas as the
Primordially Unhidden and Most Beingful of
Beings 48
b) The Ideas as What Is Sighted by a
Pre-modelling Perceiving within the
Occurrence of Unhiddenness 51
c) Deconcealment as the Fundamental
Occurrence of the Ex-istence of Man 53
D. The Fourth Stage: the Freed Prisoner's Return to the
Cave 58
§ 10 The (piXoaocpoq as Liberator of the Prisoners. His
Act of Violence, His Endangerment and Death 58
vi
CONTENTS
§ 11 The Fulfilment of the Fate of Philosophizing as an
Occurrence of d^fjOeia: Separation and
Togetherness of the Manifest and the Hidden
(Being and Illusion) 63
CHAPTER 2
The Idea of the Good and Unhiddenness 69
§ 12 The Idea of the Good as the Highest Idea:
Empowerment of Being and Unhiddenness 69
§ 13 Seeing as 6pdv and voew. Seeing and the Seeable
in the Yoke of the Light 73
§ 14 The Good: Empowerment of That upon Which
All Depends 77
§ 15 The Question Concerning the Essence of Truth as
the Question Concerning the History of Man's
Essence and HiHGJHG81 81
CHAPTER 3
The Question Concerning the Essence of Untruth 85
§ 16 The Waning of the Fundamental Experience
of &X,f|08ia. The Philosophical Obligation to
Re-awaken It: the Abiding Origin of Our
Existence 85
§ 17 The Neglect of the Question Concerning the
Essence of Hiddenness. Transformation of the
Question Concerning the Essence of Truth into
the Question Concerning the Essence of Untruth 89
§ 18 Justification of the 'Detour'. Preliminary
Clarification of Fundamental Concepts: ii/euSog,
^f|6r| and d->jf|9eia 95
§ 19 Summary: Unhiddenness and Being; the
Question Concerning the Essence of Untruth 104
vii
CONTENTS
PART TWO
AN INTERPRETATION OF PLATO'S THEAETETUS WITH
RESPECT TO THE QUESTION OF THE ESSENCE OF
UNTRUTH
CHAPTER 1
Preliminary Considerations 109
§ 20 The Question Concerning the Essence of
^7ciaif||iT|: Man's Attack on the Self-evidences of
His Self-understanding 109
§ 21 Fundamental Content of the Greek Concept of
Knowledge: Fusion of Know-how and Seeing
Having-Present of That Which Is Present 114
CHAPTER 2
Beginning of the Discussion of Theaetetus' First
Answer: £7u<rcf|HT| Is aia6iiai<;. Critical
Demarcation of the Essence of Perception 118
§ 22 AiaGrjaic; as (paviaaia. The Self-showing in Its
Presencing 118
§ 23 The Senses: Only Passage-way, Not Themselves
What Perceives in Human Perception 121
§ 24 The Soul as the Relationship that Unifies the
Perceivable and Holds It Open 125
§ 25 Colour and Sound: Both Perceived at Once in
6iavoeiv 130
CHAPTER 3
Stepwise Unfolding of Perceiving in All Its
Connections
A. Step One: Perceiving of Beings as Such 133
§ 26 A Strange 'Excess' in the Perceived over and
above the Sensory Given: 'Being' and Other
Characters as the Necessary but Unnoticed
Co-perceived 133
viii
CONTENTS
B. Step Two: Inquiry into What Perceives the Excess in
the Perceived 136
§ 27 The Sense-Organs: No Passage-way to the
Common in Everything Perceived 136
§ 28 The Soul as What Views the KOIVOI in 8iavoeiv 140
C. Step Three: The Soul's Relation to Being as Striving
for Being 144
§ 29 The Priority of Striving for Being in the Soul as
Relationship to the Perceived 145
§30 Having and Striving 147
a) Apparent Incompatibility between Striving
and Perception 147
b) Losing Oneself in Immediate Perception 148
c) Non-regarding and Non-conceptual
Perceiving 149
d) Free Possession of Truth (Knowledge) Only in
the Relationship of Striving towards What Is
Striven for; Inauthentic and Authentic
Having 152
§ 31 Inauthentic and Authentic Striving. The epox; as
Striving for Being 154
§ 32 More Determinate Conception of Striving for
Being 156
a) More Essential Unfolding of the
Determinations of Being in Attunedness 157
b) The Taking-in-View of the Connections of
Being 159
c) Interpretation of Connections of Being in the
di)M,oyian6<; 160
d) Initial Clarification of the Connection of
Being to Time 162
§ 33 The 'Excess': Not an Addition to What Is Sensed,
but the Conceptual Highlighting of Distinct
Characters of Being in the Sphere of Striving for
Being 163
ix