Customer Reviews

Being and Logos : Reading the Platonic Dialogues

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This book is as fresh today as it was 25 years ago when it was originally published. John Sallis continues to be one of the most interesting voices in philosophy in the U.S. In this magnificent work Sallis explores several of the most important dialogues in the platonic corpus by concentrating upon the interaction between logos--speech or writing--and "being" within those works. What we get is an impressive set of interpretations upon old favorites: Meno, Apology, Republic, Sophist, Phaedrus, Cratylus. Since Sallis has been heavily influenced by Heidegger and Derrida he pays particular attention to the form of the dialogues and their slippery language. Rather than the tired old cliches about Plato's "theory of ideas" or "theory of hedonism" we get compelling, insightful interpretations about the twists-and-turns in the dialogues and the interplay between interlocutors. This book so rich as to defy the conventional, short review.

It is works like this which remind us that Plato is every bit as radical and profound today as he was 2,500 years ago. Put down those dreadful books by Vlastos and Nehemas; pick this one up! You will not be sorry.

This book is an absolutely indispensable guide to people beginning to read Platonic dialogues. Sallis, unlike most, truly understands the importance of dramatic context in revealing Plato's ideas, and writes this book accordingly. Easy to read, easy to follow, and a great guide for showing how to read Plato.

For further reading check out Klein's _A Commentary on Plato's Meno_. Sallis quotes it extensively for the section on the Meno in _Being & Logos_.

The problem with Plato's dialogues is that they were written over 2,500 yeqrs ago. That's not Plato's problem, it's ours. The whole cultural milieu, on which the dialogue draw heavily, no longer exists. What's a Mother to do? Well if you get Doctor Sallis' marvelous little book you will be given guided tours of several important dialogues: Meno, Phaedrus, Republic and others. Of course, it doesn't replace actually reading the dialogues, and his language is a tad Heideggerian (but not offensively so). All in all a good read.

Heidegger sought to re-open metaphysics. He did this by a return to the Greeks. Sallis takes up the project that Heidegger may or may not have finished. Sallis re-reads the classic Platonic dialogues in order to return to them a new and de-sediment the traditional views. He does this in order to re-open the texts to a new discourse. His focus is on the ironies and plays in languages which have always been present in the texts, just often over looked.

This is a great book and forces a return to some foundational texts in Western Philosophy. Sallis writes in a pseudo-Heidegger style, which is impossible to really pull off in English. Despite this, I found the book to be very helpful in my studies of both Ancient Greek thought and Heidegger.