Theuth Versus Thamus: The Esoteric Plato Revisited

Authors

  • Tanja Staehler Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul;Departamento de Filosofia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1981-9471.v7i1p65-94

Keywords:

Plato, theut, thamus, esoteric reading of Plato, Tübingen School, Leo Strauss, Hegel

Abstract

The distinction between esoteric and exoteric readings of Plato will be revisited in this article with respect to two esoteric approaches: the German Tübingen School and the American Straussians (i.e., those interpreters who have been inspired by the work of Leo Strauss). There appears to be a joint motivation for these two approaches, namely, the critique of writing in the dialogue Phaedrus and especially Socrates’ objection that the written text speaks indiscriminately to every audience. While the Straussians claim that the Platonic dialogues are exempt from the critique because they exhibit the flexibility of oral speech, the Tübingen School relates the dialogues to an unwritten Platonic doctrine. In this article, I argue that both approaches rightly alert us to the significance and complexity of the critique of writing, yet provide one-sided readings which do not consider all of Socrates’ arguments and neglect the positions ascribed to Theuth and Thamus. When the different arguments are taken into account, the ambiguity of writing is revealed which does not allow for simple solutions concerning the status of the Platonic dialogues as written texts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Tanja Staehler, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul;Departamento de Filosofia
    Tanja Staehler is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sussex. She has edited and introduced a forthcoming collection on ‘Existentialism’ (Routledge, 2012) and is co-author (with Michael Lewis) of ‘Phenomenology: An Introduction’ (Continuum, 2010). She has published two monographs (‘Plato and Levinas: The Ambiguous Out-Side of Ethics’ and ’Die Unruhe des Anfangs: Hegel und Husserl auf dem Weg in die Phaenomenologie’).

References

Batnitzky, L. 2006. Leo Strauss and Emmanuel Levinas. Philosophy and the Politics of Revelation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511499050.

Benardete, S. 1991. The Rhetoric of Morality and Philosophy. Plato’s Gorgias and Phaedrus. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Gadamer, H.-G. 1968. ‘Platons ungeschriebene Dialektik” in H.-G. Gadamer & W. Schadewaldt (eds.), Idee und Zahl. Studien zur platonischen Philosophie. Heidelberg: C. Winter Universitätsverlag: 9-30.

Gaiser, K. 1968. Platons ungeschriebene Lehre. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.

Gaiser, K. (ed.), 1969. Das Platonbild. Zehn Beiträge zum Platonverständnis. Hildesheim: Olms.

Gaiser, K. 1980. “Plato’s Enigmatic Lecture on the Good” Phronesis 25 (1980), no. 1: 5-37. DOI: 10.1163/156852880X00025.

Hegel, G.W.F. 1986. Lectures on the History of Philosophy. In G.W.F. Hegel, Werke, ed. E. Moldenhauer & K. M. Michel. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, vol. 19.

Heidegger, M. 2000. Introduction to Metaphysics, G. Fried & F. Polt, Trans. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Hyland, D. 2002. “Against a Platonic ‘Theory’ of Forms” in W.A. Welton (ed.), Plato’s Forms. Varieties of Interpretation. Oxford: Lexington Books: 257-72.

Hyland, D. 2008. Plato and the Question of Beauty. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Kauffmann, C. 1997. Leo Strauss zur Einführung. Hamburg: Junius.

Kauffmann, C. 2008. “‘Rede’ und ‘Tat’ im Platon-Bild von Leo Strauss” in C. Kauffmann & A. Eckl (eds.), Politischer Platonismus. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann: 87-102.

Krämer, H.-J. 1959. Arete bei Platon und Aristoteles. Heidelberg, AHAW.

Levinas, E. 1969. Totality and Infinity, A. Lingis, Transl. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press. [cited as TI]

Rosen, S. 1987. Plato’s Symposium, 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Rosen, S. 1995. Plato’s Statesman: The Web of Politics. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Rosen, S. 2008. Plato’s Republic: A Study. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Schleiermacher, F. 1969. “‘Einleitung’ zu ‘Platons Werke’” in Gaiser: 1-32.

Szlezák, T.A. 1985. Platon und die Schriftlichkeit der Philosophie. Berlin: de Gruyter. [cited as PSP]

Strauss, L. 1964. The City and Man. Chicago: Rand McNelly.

Strauss, L. 1973. Persecution and the Art of Writing. Westport: Greenword Press. [cited as PAW]

Strauss, L. 1975. The Argument and the Action of Plato’s Laws. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Strauss, L. 1983. Studies in Platonic Political Philosophy. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1983. [cited as SPP]

Vernant, J.-P. 1982. The Origins of Greek Thought. London: Methuen.

Villers, J. 2005. Das Paradigma des Alphabets. Platon und die Schriftbedingtheit der Philosophie. Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann.

Downloads

Published

2013-06-24

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Theuth Versus Thamus: The Esoteric Plato Revisited. (2013). Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 7(1), 65-94. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1981-9471.v7i1p65-94