Essence of Truth: On Plato's Parable of the Cave and the Theaetetus (Athlone Contemporary European Thinkers) [Hardcover]

Martin Heidegger (Author), Ted Sadler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 18, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0826459234 | ISBN-13: 978-0826459237

The Essence of Truth must count as one of Heidegger's most important works, for nowhere else does he give a comparably thorough explanation of what is arguably the most fundamental and abiding theme of his entire philosophy, namely the difference between truth as the "unhiddenness of beings" and truth as the "correctness of propositions". For Heidegger, it is by neglecting the former primordial concept of truth in favor of the latter derivative concept that Western philosophy, beginning already with Plato, took off on its "metaphysical" course towards the bankruptcy of the present day. This first ever translation into English consists of a lecture course delivered by Heidegger at the University of Freiburg in 1931-32. Part One of the course provides a detailed analysis of Plato's allegory of the cave in the Republic, while Part Two gives a detailed exegesis and interpretation of a central section of Plato's Theaetetus, and is essential for the full understanding of his later well-known essay Plato's Doctrine of Truth. As always with Heidegger's writings on the Greeks, the point of his interpretative method is to bring to light the original meaning of philosophical concepts, especially to free up these concepts to their intrinsic power.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

One year later, Heidegger turned his gaze on the essence of truth. In a lecture course delivered at Freiburg in 1931-32, he engaged in a close philosophical reading of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and a section from Plato's Theaetetus. In Plato's allegory, men are shackled and can only see the shadows cast on the cave's wall by a fire. These shadows are their reality. But when one of them escapes into the sunlight, he sees that the shadows are not reality but illusion. For Heidegger, this man-who in Plato's story becomes the model for a philosopher-has had the truth revealed to him. Truth cannot be possessed merely as correct propositions, as Heidegger argues that the history of philosophy has taught. Rather, he contends, "the question of the essence of truth as unhiddenness is the question of the history of human essence." A shorter essay that derives from this lecture can be found in both Basic Writings and in Existence and Being. These new volumes reveal Heidegger's consummate exegetical and hermeneutical skills, but given their technical philosophical jargon, they are recommended only for academic or large public libraries.
Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"These new volumes reveal Heidegger's consummate exegetical and hermeneutical skills...recommended."--Library Journal

"[The Essence of Truth] discusses Plato's allegory of the cave and the Platonic eros, or love of truth, in fine detail. It attempts to define the essence of truth in a manner that produces a rigorous method of philosophizing which is demanding, sharp and incisive." --Emmy Van Deurzen in Existential Analysis 17.1 2005

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (June 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826459234
• ISBN-13: 978-0826459237
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Essence of Truth', October 17, 2002

By 

Jessica Bloom (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essence of Truth: On Plato's Cave Allegory and Theaetetus (Athlone Contemporary European Thinkers) (Paperback)

One of Heidegger's most important works, The Essence of Truth, bears witness to a shift in emphais, in which truth and by extension, being, no longer happens through the agency of Dasein, but in the 'open' in which Dasein is uncovered. By a slow and careful reading of Plato's allegory of the cave, Heidegger shows how truth ceased to be 'unhiddenness' and became mere 'correctness', beginning the degeneration of thought about being into metaphysics.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heidegger's Confrontation with Plato, June 29, 2009

By 

Tony See "New Thinker" (Singapore, Switzerland, Shanghai) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essence of Truth: On Plato's Parable of the Cave and the Theaetetus (Continuum Impacts) (Paperback)

This is an excellent introduction to Heidegger's thoughts on Plato. Although much has been written about the way Heidegger sought to overcome the Western Metaphysical tradition, relatively little has been written about the way he sought to bring about a deeper, or in some cases, reinterpretation of Plato's Republic. Here, Heidegger goes into the very heart of Plato's Republic to discover an account of truth that is not grounded in some metaphysical subject that is opposed to some object, but one that is grounded in "unconcealment" itself. This work, when read together with Heidegger's The Origins of the Work of Art offers one a penetrating insight into the very grounds of Heidegger's disagreement with the received philosophical tradition.

0 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Insubstantiality of Being (a cave-in), November 5, 2008

By 

Alaric - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Essence of Truth: On Plato's Parable of the Cave and the Theaetetus (Continuum Impacts) (Paperback)

Being as clarification (unhiddenness) v. correctness (propositional validity). 3. Beholding the Ideal contained in flux.

As far as throwing light upon "Being", Heidegger's 'clearing' consists only in the aperture of the cornea that is

formed around the iris: it does not go deeper into 'it'. Heidegger's idea of leaving the cave consists in facing

the light and seeing what is 'nakedly'. This might be adequate if what occurs in the eye is not mere sense, but

also the faculty of judgement; the case is that sense impressions are subject to judgement (interpretation, if

you like) prior to their becoming SUBJECT to our awareness. That is, 'direct consciousness' of objects is

mediated by the understanding, and it is a misnomer to speak of consciousness as being 'direct' in any SENSE

whatsoever. As for the Will, Being is only directly conceived through [carpe diem] it in the process of

becoming [panta rei] precisely WHEN one surrenders the status of compos mentis as a 'true' entity for that

which makes for a greater awareness through intuition (i.e. knowing, and not a greater 'proximity' to Being

which in any case would be only another state achieved and not a 'field of vision' gained). This expresses the

paradoxical nature of truth, of Dasein as Werdens; as neither Being nor Nothing. The concept of truth as

unhiddenness of Dasein remains problematic given its visual nature, which is in no way adequate a model of

the understanding, or even Will to remain tenable: unhiddenness is not disclosure, and if the error was

one of judgement in the first place it is not a question of sight which unveils, but insight that discloses the

'nature' of things-in-themselves (Beings, if you will) as they are, from which we can reason back and

distill what we receive first as sense datum, to the pure Idea which is beholden to us (it as necessary and dear

to us, as we to it).