Table Of ContentPAUL FRIEDLANDER
TRANSLATED BY
HANS MEYERHOFF
Plato
An Introduction
PRINCETON LEGACY LIBRARY
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PAUL FRIEDLANDER
PLATO
1
AN INTRODUCTION
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
BY HANS MEYERHOFF
+
BOLLINGEN SERIES LIX
PRINCETON
Copyright © 1958 by Bollingen Foundation Inc., New York, N. Y.
Published by Princeton Uni'Versity Press, Princeton, N. J.
Second edition, 'With re'Visions
Copyright © 1969 by Princeton Uni'Versity Press
THIS IS THE FIRST OF THREE VOLUMES
CONSTITUTING THE FIFTY-NINTH PUBLICATION
IN A SERIES SPONSORED BY
BOLLINGEN FOUNDATION
First Princeton/Bollingen Paperback Edition, 1973
This book is sold subject to the condition that it
shall not, by way of trade, be lent, resold, hired
out, or otherwise disposed of without the pub-
1isher's consent, in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published.
Origina1ly published in German as
Platon: Seinswahrheit und Lebenswirklichkeit
2d edn., 1954; 3d edn., 1964
by W. de Gruyter &: Co., Berlin
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUE CARD NO. 57-11126
ISBN 0-691-01795-6 (paperback edn.)
ISBN 0-691-09812-3 (hardcover edn.)
MANUFACTURED IN THE U. s. A.
Preface
This second edition of the introductory volume of my work on
Plato does not differ basically from the first edition. Only
chapter XI, ".Illetluia, A Discussion with Martin Heidegger,"
has undergone substantial revision. My opposition to Heideg
ger's interpretation of the Platonic concept of truth remains
unchanged. Yet, recent extensive analysis of the meaning of
aletluia in the older literature has more clearly brought out the
various early meanings of the concept. It has become clear that
the aspect of unhiddenness most stressed by Heidegger was
present very early, but so were the elements which later com
bined in Plato's lofty concept of aletkeia.
"Plato as Geographer and Geophysicist" would be a more
adequate title for chapter XV; only technical reasons prevented
the change. The text of the chapter is unaltered except for a
postscript on page 285.
The notes have been revised and supplemented, in accord
with the German third edition published in 1964. These re
visions, and a few completely new notes, are presented here in a
separate section as Addenda to the Second Edition. For explana
tion of the use of an asterisk, see page SS9.
P.F.
Los .Ilngeles, California
November. 1968
Preface to the First Edition
The first German edition of the present volume. published in
1928, contained chapters I to IX, and as an appendix, the two
chapters that are now XV and XVII. The second German edi
tion. revised and enlarged, appeared in 1954; six chapters were
viii PREFACE
added, of which the first three relate Platonic problems to mod
ern philosophy. The present English translation is again a
revision throughout. Mr. Huntington Cairns, moreover, has
allowed the reprinting of his paper on Plato as jurist. This
chapter, the two chapters preceding, and the one following com
bine to give a notion of Plato's universality. Two volumes de
voted to the interpretation of the single dialogues will complete
this work.
The preparation of the present edition is being supported by
grants from the Reserve, the Johnson, and the Penrose Funds of
th~ American Philosophical Society. A fellowship from Bollingen
Foundation has made it possible for me to devote my time to
scholarly work.
P.F.
[Los Angeles, 1958J
Translator's Note
I am indebted to Miss Helen Caldwell, Mr. Johnny Christensen,
Miss Friedl Ekart, Mrs. Vivien d'EstourneUes de Constant,
Professor B. Q. Morgan, Dr. David Sachs, and Dr. Bertha
Stenzel for help at various stages in the making of this trans
lation. Dr. Stenzel also translated the notes. Chapters XIV,
XVI (by Mr. Huntington Cairns), and XVII appeared origi
nally in English. Thanks are due also to the editors of Bollingen
Series for helpful suggestions and corrections made in preparing
the manuscript for print. Throughout the various phases of
this work, I have been able to consult constantly with the
author himself in order to bring the English version as closely
as possible into line with the German original.
The translation of passages from the works and authors
cited follows in general the German text. In the case of trans
lations from Plato, however, I have used English versions of
these passages as models for the translation.
H.M.
Acknowledgment is made to The Johns Hopkins Preas and the
Haroard Law RerJiew for permission to reprint, with slight modifica
tions, Huntington Cairns' chapter on Plato as jurist.
Table of Contents
PREFACES vli
T RAN S L A TOR'S NOT E viii
LIS T 0 F ILL U S T RAT ION S xxiii
PART I
Eidos
CHAPTER I:
Plato's autobiography [3 - 9 J. the only document we
have about his intellectual development, reveals a person
destined to pursue a political career, but thwarted by
the political disintegration of the age and by the fate of
Socrates. The postulate of the philosopher-kings is an
epigrammatic formulation of the goal of a radical
restoration [9 J. Plato's written works and his active
participation in pOlitics confirm the priority of the political
domain in his life [ 9 - 10 J. The Greek state, originally
built on religious foundations, had succumbed to arbitrary
rule and thought [ 10 - 12 J. The Socratic method and the
death Qf Socrates are counterweights against the political
disintegration [ 12 J. In the encounter with Socrates,
Plato's inner eye [ 13 - J4. ] beholds the eternal Forms
[ 14 - 19 J. The new state is to be built around this central
vision [ 19 - 20 J. To translate this vision into conceptual
language Plato falls back upon Parmenidean ontology
[ 21 - 25 J. The Herakleitean world view presents itself
as the opposite pole to that of Parmenides, and both,
again, are fused in Plato [25 - 26 J. Pythagoras hel ps to
expand this realm into cosmology [26 - 28 J; and the
Pythagorean-Orphic myth of the soul serves as a vehicle
x TABLE OF CONTENTS
for communicating the lesson of Socratic existence: the
immortality of the soul [£8 - 80 J. Soul, city-state,
and cosmos under the governance of Eidos; Eidos as a
spiritual forcej intuition and dialectics as paths toward
the Eidos [90 - 81 J.
Demon and Eros 32
CHAPTER II:
The demonic is a characteristic trait of Socrates [3£ - 36 J.
It is a guiding force in his work of education [36 J.
Treated under various aspects in Plato's myths, the
demon is a symbol: for the essential form of man imposed
by fate; for the link with transcendencej for freedom
within the realm of necessity; for mediation between
perfect being and human community [ 37 - 39 ]. Demon
and God are both identifiable and distinguishable
[ 39 - 40 J. The demonic as the metaxy is a basic structural
element in Plato's world [ 41 - 48 ]. Demon and Eros
[ +f - 46 J. The erotic nature of Socrates intimately
connected with ignorance and irony [46 - 51 J. Unity of
erotic experience and vision of Forms in the Symposium;
expanded to the hierarchical order of being in the Phaedrus;
in the Republic, the love of the philosopher is felt as an act of
begetting [51 - 54-J. The interrelationship of Eros,
Eidos, Polis, and Kosmos [5i-- 55 J. Plato preserves the
original erotic force of Socrates and combines with it a
systematic richnessj for Plotinos, true love is unio
mystica [ 55 - 58 J.
Beyond Being 59
CHAPTER III:
The Forms are Plato's answer to the Socratic question,
the answer read by Plato in the Socratic existence
[ 59 - 60 J. As the latter transcends the spoken word,
80 Plato's path of knowledge leads to the intellectual
vision of the Forms and to the limits of transcendence
[ 6'0 - 64-J. The three paths of knowledge, love, and death
are ultimately one [ 64 J. Its characteristics: the ladder
[ 64 J; from darkness to light [65 - 66 Jj liberation from
TABLE OF CONTENTS xi
chains [ 66 J; painful ascent [ 67 J; guidance and compulsion
[67 -6'8 J; compulsion oflove [68 J; sudden attainment
of the goal C6 9 J; light, clarity, and vision C6 9 - 70 J;
eudllemonill C7 0 -71 J. Images from the Greek mysteries
[71 - 7.51 J. Analogies from mysticism C7 .51 - 80J. Why
Plato is not a mystic is shown by contrast with Plotino.
(80-84J.
CHAPTER IV: The Academy 85
Functional relationship between Plato's writings and the
Academy [85 - 87 J. The different conceptions of the
Academy developed by various writers suggest that one
must not mistake a partial aspect for the whole, and that
the essential structure of the Academy is more worth
knowing and more knowable than its institutional form
[ 87 - 88 J. The Academy as a community permeated by
dialectical conversation, centered around the Eidos, and
oriented toward the city-state C8 8 J. Escape from and
participation in the world are evenly balanced a89 J.
Akin to the Pythagorean orders, the Academy differs
from them by virtue of the Socratic power preserved in it
[90 - 9l J. Developmental and constant factors [91 - 98 J.
The mathematical sciences [98 - 94 J. Systematic studies
in botany and zoology [94 - 95 J. Foundations of physics
and cosmology [95 J. Spherical geography [95 - 97 J.
Synopsis of the special sciences and their relationship
with the Forms [97-98J. Paideill [98-99J. Political
orientation: inquiries into the nature of the st~te and
practical politics [ 100 - 107 J.
CHAPTER V: The Written Work 108
Power and conceptual richness of Logos in the Greek
tradition C1 08 -109 J. Only in the fifth and fourth
centuries does writing assume an equal place beside the
oral expression C1 09 J. Contrast between Socrates, still
engaged entirely in oral conversation, and Plato, the
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS
philosopher-artist to whom writing is a necessity [ 110 J.
To clarify this urgent problem, Plato resumes the
discussion of contemporary rhetoricians concerning the
priority of written or oral discourse [ 110 - 1 Sl ] and raises
the topic to the level of philosophy [ lIS - 15 J. The
problem presents itself once more in the contrast between
written laws and the higher norms of the ideal state
C1 15 - 18 J. Writing of the dialogues as a form of play
[118-19J. With the criticism of imitation and the
struggle against the imitative poets in the Republic,
Plato secures for his own written works a place in the
true state C1 19-Sl1 J. The struggle recurs in the Laws
( 1 SlSl J. Playfulness and seriousness are inseparable
( HIS J. Plato's struggle against imitation is also a sign
of his philosophical conscience watching over the poet
within himself and an indication of how the dialogues are
supposed to be read ( 1,24 - S5].
CHAPTER VI: Socrates in Plato 126
The individual ego speaks, from Hesiod on, through
many centuries C1 ,26 - 27 J. Plato's silence about himself,
therefore, is a unique phenomenon [ 1Sl7 J. Equally
unique is the position of Socrates in Plato's works [ 1,27-
Sl8]. It confirms the uniqueness of his encounter with
Socrates [lSl8-S} ] and expresses not only gratitude
[ 181 - 8Sl ] but also the fact that only in this manner
could philosophy be communicated to his readers C1 Sil J.
Not that Socrates is gradually pushed from the center of
Plato's philosophical perspective, but whether Socrates
talks, whether he listens, or whether, as in the Laws, he
is no longer present-these modes signify gradations
within the structure of Plato's works [ 1 S2 -·SB]. The
historical Socrates is the indefatigable questioner and, at
the same time, through his life and death, the answer
to his own questions [ 1 S5 - 86]. Plato's Socrates gives
answers within a philosophical context but signifies that
the question remains alive in the answer [ 136 J.
TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii
Irony
CHAPTER VIr: 137
On the nature of irony t 187 - 88 J. Socrates' life is filled
with irony [ 188 - 89 J. Irony is present in his erotic
attitude, his educational conversations. and his polemic
discussions [ 199 - 44 J. Socratic and Platonic irony
[ 144 - 45 J. Polyphonic irony in the Eutlzydemus [ 145-
46 J. The Form of the Good surrounded by irony
[ 147 - 48 J. Socrates and Diotima: ironic split [ 148-
50 J. Ironic shift of balance and other ironic tensions
in the dialogues [ 150 - 52 J. Silent irony [ 1551-58 J.
Irony guards the Platonic secret [ 15S J.
Dialog;ue
CHAPTER VIII: 154
Among the Greeks Socrates is farthest removed from
any self-presentation C1 54 - 55 J. His never-ending
conversation is based on his ironic ignorance [ 156 - 57 J.
Although other disciples of Socrates wrote Socratic
dialogues, the form of the dialogue was perhaps a necessity
only for Plato [ 157 J. Socratic conversation and Platonic
dialogue are related like nature and art [ 158 J. In Plato
the setting and the participants necessarily belong to the
philosophical discussion; what is often called the formal
setting must be analyzed as to its existential content
[ 158 - 61 J. Interrelationship and grouping of dialogues
[161 -62 J. Plato's written work must be seen as a
structured unity [162 J. The Socratic dialogue compared
to philosophical conversations of India [ 16S - 64 J. How
does the dialogue combine both a mirroring of the life of
Socrates and a presentation of Plato's philosophy? And
why did Plato never write a formal treatise [1640-65]?
The dialogue is the only form of writing which breaks
through the rigid form ofa book [166J. Plato's philosophy
is a struggle between dialectical tensions. The most
decisive struggles represented in the dialogues took place
within Plato himself[166-68J. Socrates ends with a
proftllsion of ignorance. Plato with a vision of the IUd.
