Platos Sophist (Studies in Continental Thought) [Hardcover]

Martin Heidegger (Author), Andre Schuwer (Translator), Richard Rojcewicz (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Studies in Continental Thought | Publication Date: April 1997

Students and scholars alike can now see for themselves why Heidegger's lectures on the Greeks in the 1920s caused such a stir, and they can judge just what it means to read a Greek text with Heidegger...The English translation is excellent, managing to capture some of the vibrancy of the lectures while maintaining a high degree of accuracy and readability. N John Ellis. This volume reconstructs Martin Heidegger's lecture course at the University of Marburg in the winter semester 1924ETH25, devoted to an interpretation of Plato (especially his later dialogue, the "Sophist") and Aristotle, especially Book VI of the "Nichomahcan Ethics". Published for the first time in German in 1992 as volume 19 of "Heidegger's Collected Works", it is one of Heidegger's major texts, because of its intrinsic importance as an interpretation of Aristotle and Plato and also because of its relation to "Being and Time". Composed at the same time, the lectures and "Being and Times" are complementary works in that both are commentaries on Plato's "Sophist". The lectures approach Plato through a detailed reading of the "Nichomachean Ethics", providing one of Heidegger's major interpretations of Aristotle. In a line-by-line interpretation of the "Sophist", Heidegger then takes up the relation of Being and non-being, the ontological problematic that forms the key link between Greek philosophy and Heidegger's thought.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Students and scholars alike can now see for themselves why Heidegger's lectures on the Greeks in the 1920s caused such a stir, and they can judge just what it means to read a Greek text with Heidegger." —John Ellis, University of Memphis

(John Ellis, University of Memphis )

"Thematic and methodological parallels render this volume a fine source for those interested in the archaeology of Being and Time.... The text shows us a young Martin Heidegger at ease and passionate about his subject." —International Philosophical Quarterly

(International Philosophical Quarterly ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press; First Edition edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253332222
• ISBN-13: 978-0253332226
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,347,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't circumscribe your philological opportunities, May 17, 2008

By 

Dee B. (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plato's Sophist (Studies in Continental Thought) (Paperback)

One of Heidegger's finest! The philosopher comes within reach of ancient Greek thought in Plato, primarily through Book VI of Aristotle's "Nichomachean Ethics," and a scrupulous interpretation of Plato's later dialogue, the "Sophist." The treatise is an important and inimitable interpretation of the Greek thinkers, and the connection of their thought with Heidegger's own "Being and Time." The author adduces the ontological problem of the relation of Being and non-being; the essential correlation between the ancient Greek thinkers and Martin Heidegger's own philosophy. Most of the Greek is defined by the author, or through sense expression and translation. Otherwise, a Greek-English Lexicon is of great value.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greek rarely translated in English translations, September 16, 2011

By 

Orson Welles "Hollywood" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Plato's Sophist (Studies in Continental Thought) (Paperback)

Good advice. When reading The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphyics, I had to skip over much of the Greek near the end when he really gets into Aristotle. I did find a Heidegger Greek lexicon online. But I don't understand why the German editors or the English translators don't supply a lexion or simply translated the Greek in parentheses after Heidegger quotes it. Heidegger and his students had a kind of education that no longer exists. They knew Greek. Very, very, very few readers of Heidegger in English do.

19 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heidegger's Plato's Sophist, April 28, 2000

By 

F. Dirks "Frodo" (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Platos Sophist (Studies in Continental Thought) (Hardcover)

If you want to read this book you do need to have an extensive knowledge of the Greek language. If you can't read Greek, don't buy this book! If you can, it is a very interesting lecture course (1924-1925) and interpretive essay by Heidegger. Leiden, Holland