The Thought of John Sallis: Phenomenology, Plato, Imagination

476 Pages·2012·2.499 MB·English

by  Bernard Freydberg

THE THOUGHT OF JOHN SALLIS

T H E T H O U G H T O F
J O H N S A L L I S
Phenomenology, Plato, Imagination
Bernard Freydberg
Northwestern University Press
Evanston, Illinois
Northwestern University Press
www.nupress.northwestern.edu
Copyright © 2012 by Bernard Freydberg. Published 2012 by Northwestern
University Press. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
Freydberg, Bernard, 1947–
The thought of John Sallis : phenomenology, Plato, imagination / Bernard
Freydberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8101-2827-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8101-2828-6
(cloth : alk. paper)
1. Sallis, John, 1938– 2. Philosophy, Modern—20th century.
3. Phenomenology. 4. Plato. 5. Art—Philosophy. 6. Philosophy, European.
I. Title.
B945.S15F74 2012
191—dc23
2012001463
o The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
For Akiko,
again and always

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Works by John Sallis xxi
Note on References and Transliteration xxiii
Part 1. Phenomenology
1 Phenomenology and the Return to Beginnings 5
2 Delimitations: Phenomenology and the End of Metaphysics 18
Part 2. Sallis’s Plato Interpretation
3 Being and Logos: Reading the Platonic Dialogues 61
4 Chorology: On Beginning in Plato’s Timaeus 145
5 Platonic Legacies 167
Part 3. Art/Sallis
6 Stone 195
7 Shades—Of Painting at the Limit 206
8 Topographies 215
Part 4. Sallis and Other Thinkers
9 The Gathering of Reason 229
10 Spacings—Of Reason and Imagination in Texts of Kant, Fichte, Hegel 240
11 Echoes: After Heidegger 251
12 Crossings: Nietzsche and the Space of Tragedy 259
Part 5. Sallis Speaks Directly
13 Double Truth 273
14 Force of Imagination: The Sense of the Elemental 289
15 On Translation 371
Part 6. The Sallis/Derrida Dialogue
16 Derrida’s “Tense” and Sallis’s The Verge of Philosophy 389
Conclusion 406
Notes 411
Bibliography 425
Index 431
Acknowledgments
I wrote The Thought of John Sallis: Phenomenology, Plato, Imagination in iso-
lation over a two-y ear period. However, there can be no doubt that I
benefi ted signifi cantly from conversations with such excellent colleagues
as Dennis Schmidt, Jason Wirth, Günter Figal, Sanem Yaziçiog˘lu, Ma-
ria Acosta, Charles Scott, Christopher Yates, Michael Rudar, and many
others. The work of John Sallis has provided ongoing inspiration since
I was his student at Duquesne University in the mid- 1970s, and I regard
the opportunity to talk with him from time to time over the last three
decades as a great gift.
Most of this book was written during my two and a half years at Koç
University, Istanbul. I thank Sami Gülgöz, dean of social sciences and hu-
manities, for the two summers off in 2007 and 2008. For those two sum-
mers, I thank Shannon Sullivan, philosophy department chair at Penn-
sylvania State University, for appointing me visiting scholar, and Dennis J.
Schmidt, who graciously gave me the use of his offi ce. It is always a plea-
sure to work at Penn State. I also thank James Swindal, chairperson of
the Duquesne University philosophy department, for appointing me vis-
iting scholar, the post I now occupy. My two essential librarians at Bailey
Library of Slippery Rock University, Kathleen Manning and Rita McClel-
land, provided their usual expert and cheerful assistance.
My gratitude to Jane Bunker, director of Northwestern University
Press, is boundless. Her intellect, her integrity, and her commitment to
excellence embody everything worthwhile that academic life has to offer.
I also thank the two readers for their work and for their enthusiastic en-
dorsement. The book is better for their suggestions.
My daughter Malika Hadley Freydberg’s great spirit and her unique
take on life always animate me. Finally, my wife Akiko Kotani inspires
every aspect of my life and work. She is a gifted artist, an insightful com-
mentator on imagination, a sensitive interpreter of the many John Sallis
lectures she has heard, and the most wonderful partner. I dedicate this
book to her.
ix