Heidegger and Plato: Toward Dialogue (Topics in Historical Philosophy) [Paperback]

Catalin Partenie (Editor), Tom Rockmore (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0810122332 | ISBN-13: 978-0810122338 | Publication Date: August 26, 2005 | Edition: 1

For Martin Heidegger the "fall" of philosophy into metaphysics begins with Plato. Thus, the relationship between the two philosophers is crucial to an understanding of Heidegger--and, perhaps, even to the whole plausibility of postmodern critiques of metaphysics. It is also, as the essays in this volume attest, highly complex, and possibly founded on a questionable understanding of Plato.

As editors Catalin Partenie and Tom Rockmore remark, a simple way to describe Heidegger's reading of Plato might be to say that what began as an attempt to appropriate Plato (and through him a large portion of Western philosophy) finally ended in an estrangement from both Plato and Western philosophy. The authors of this volume consider Heidegger's thought in relation to Plato before and after the "Kehre" or turn. In doing so, they take up various central issues in Heidegger's Being and Time (1927) and thereafter, and the questions of hermeneutics, truth, and language. The result is a subtle and multifaceted reinterpretation of Heidegger's position in the tradition of philosophy, and of Plato's role in determining that position.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Catalin Partenie is a fellow in the Department of Philosophy, University of Quebec at Montreal. He is editor of Plato: Selected Myths (Oxford, 2004).

Tom Rockmore is professor of philosophy at Duquesne University and the author of many books, most recently Marx after Marxism (Blackwell, 2002). He is also co-editor with Daniel Breazeale of New Essays on Fichte's Later Jena Wissenschaftslehre (Northwestern, 2002).

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1 edition (August 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810122332
• ISBN-13: 978-0810122338
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,410,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An uneven collection of articles mostly about Heidegger., December 6, 2007

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C Hill (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Heidegger and Plato: Toward Dialogue (Topics in Historical Philosophy) (Paperback)

Since Amazon hasn't scanned any content yet, I'll list the articles in order of appearance, their authors, and some commentary.

On the Purported Platonism of Heidegger's Rectoral Address - Theodore Kisiel. Has nothing to do with Plato really. The author has found 3 french authors who apparently claim to discern traces of Platonism in Heidegger's Rectoral speech. Kisiel aims to show that it's not the case. However, this article is fascinating in clarifying the political background among German faculty after WWI. Very enlightening for getting a sense of the university environment which Heidegger entered as a young teacher.

Plato's Legacy in Heidegger's Two Reading of Antigone - Jacques Taminiaux. A nice article that shows similarities between Plato and Heidegger and dissimilarities between Heidegger and Aristotle on the basis of their respective understandings of tragedy. Also covers Hegel and Nietzsche on tragedy.

Imprint: Heidegger's Interpretation of Platonic Dialectic in the Sophist Lectures (1924-25) - Catalin Partiene. A nice and well-organized essay arguing for a Platonic influence in Being and Time and for the importance of the distinction of authenticity/inauthenticity. Discusses Heidegger's Sophist lecture, then analyses some Platonic texts and concludes with an outstanding summary of Being and Time wherein Partiene makes his case.

Truth and Untruth in Plato and Heidegger - Michael Inwood: A rather detailed analysis of Plato's versions of truth in comparison with Heidegger's. Goes on to try to place Heidegger's concepts of disclosure and hiddenness in the allegory of the cave. Ends by comparing Heidegger with Protagoras.

Heidegger and the Platonic Concept of Truth - Enrico Berti. This articles gives a good explanation of the various concepts of truth according to Heidegger on the basis of Aristotle. It shows how Heidegger changed his reading of Plato and Aristotle over time and emphasizes the importance that Aristotle had for Heidegger's interpretation of Plato.

Amicus Plato magis amica veritas: Reading Heidegger in Plato's Cave - Maria del Carmen Paredes. Places Heidegger's work and phenomenology within a Platonic context. Shows the importance of phenomenology for interpretation but also as another discipline within the Platonic orb. Concludes with a general discussion of Heidegger's notion of truth and his interpretation of the cave.

Heidegger on Truth and Being - Joseph Margolis. A fairly weak article trying to attack the Heideggerian conception of truth while at the same time maintaining that truth according to analytical philosophy isn't acceptable either. The author writes very much in the style of some analytic philosophers, somewhat witty, somewhat humorous, but always viscious. We get a list of standard vituperations against Heidegger: arrogant, arbitrary, magic, fantasy, non-arguments with philosophical pretentions, etc. The focus is more on Parmenides than on Plato, and the author misreads both Parmenides and Heidegger so that he can fairly easily reject Heidegger on grounds that his "arguments" don't hold. What are we left with if we don't accept the Heideggerian or analytic conception of truth? The savior of analytic philosophy- who else? Wittgenstein! And the early Wittgenstein at that, who according to the author, in 3 or 4 lines solves all puzzles concerning truth. No arguments, just a few lines from the Tractutus. Now that is laughable.

With Plato into the Kairos before the Kehre: On Heidegger's Different Intrepretation of Plato - Johannes Fritsche. The books longest, most technical essay, with 12 pages of endnotes alone. Gives a very detailed analysis of the different stages of Heidegger's Plato interpretation within the framework of what Fritsche calls the "drama of historicality." The author mostly quotes himself and his speciality seems to be Heidegger and National Socialism. And it's there where the essay is at it's weakest, when he connects the early Heidegger of Being and Time with NS and Hitler. No doubt Heidegger was a conservative but to make the Heidegger of 1928 and earlier a Hitlerite is just nonsense. A lot of time is spend on the (futile) enterprise of trying to discern just exactly when the Turn took place. There is some interesting background information about politics at a time Heidegger wrote this or that essay. Otherwise a good analysis of Heidegger and the Greeks.

Remarks on Heidegger's Plato - Stanley Rosen. A wordy article with little reasearch and even poorer citations (only 3 footnotes). Plagued by typographical errors, one of which is fatal: a block quotation from Heidegger where some of Rosen texts seems to creep in and it's unclear where. To make things worse, the citation attached to the quotation is erroneous, too, and points nowhere so one can't even check the original. Discusses similarities between Plato and Heidegger, then introduces Aristotle and shows that Heidegger misreads Plato.

Heidegger's Uses of Plato and the History of Philosophy - Tom Rockmore. Has nothing to do with Plato but starts out strong as an analysis of interpretation, but then collapses into a naive or viscious attack on Heidegger. Rockmore claims that Heidegger is a realist and essentialist in his interpretation of ancient texts and is unable to read a Greek text in some authentic way(!). Misunderstands Heidegger's ontology by claiming that Heidegger wants to study a thing, any thing, to get to the being of beings and from there to get to transcendent being. Goes on to defend relativism and social constructivism. Rockmore's students must be thrilled.

While one or two articles serve as a good introduction to the problem of Plato/truth in Heidegger, others are too specific to serve beginning students. I can only recommend this book to those are looking for a place to find a variety of intrepretations of Heidegger's readings of Plato in regards to truth. Some articles are very good (Kisiel, Taminiaux, Partiene, Berti, Fritsche), others we could have done without. There's nothing particularly original here. It'll be left to others to truly develop original insights into the complex relationship between these two masters of philosophy.