The Strangeness of the Phaedrus

Schenker, David

doi:10.1353/ajp.2006.0021

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…One should therefore be careful not to assume too quickly that Derrida's enquiry into reason's origin (which is to be clearly distinguished from an opposition to reason) amounts to a 'performative inconsistency' as contended for example by Solum [38, p. 484]. 37 Socrates was as we saw, similarly seduced out of the city, but by 'writing'.…”

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“…Before being tamed to become the loyal son and the truth by Plato, logos is thus a wild ambivalent creature which can enter and bewitch the soul with 'the power to break in, to carry off, to seduce internally, to ravish invisibly' [18, p. 118]. 37 If logos is viewed thus, it would of course make of Socrates (the spokesman of the father, the one who does not write) a magician and a sophist, a pharmakeus par excellence, something which he shares with Thoth, and as we will see now, also with Eros [18, pp. 94, 119, 147].…”

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Revisiting Plato’s Pharmacy

Ville

2010

Int J Semiot Law

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In this essay, one of Derrida's early texts, Plato's pharmacy, is analysed in detail, more specifically in relation to its reflections on writing and its relation to law. This analysis takes place with reference to a number of Derrida's other texts, in particular those on Freud. It is especially Freud's texts on dream interpretation and on the dream-work which are of assistance in understanding the background to Derrida's analysis of writing in Plato's pharmacy. The essay shows the close relation between Derrida's analysis of Plato's texts and Freud's study of the dream-work. The forces at work in dreams, it appears, are at play in all texts, which in turn explains Derrida's contentions in relation to the pharmakon as providing the condition of possibility of Plato's texts. The essay furthermore points to the continuity between this 'early' text of Derrida and his 'later', seemingly more politico-legal texts of the 1990s. A close reading of Plato's pharmacy, with its investigation via 'writing' of the foundations of metaphysics, and thus also of the Western concept of law, is obligatory should one wish to comprehend how Derrida attempts to exceed the restricted economy of metaphysics through his analysis of concepts such as justice and hospitality.

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Revisiting Plato’s Pharmacy

Ville

2010

Int J Semiot Law

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“…David Schenker, while describing this conversion, rightly claims that 'Socrates/Plato has laid bare the shallowness and shortcomings of traditional rhetorical education and has offered a sort of divinely inspired philosophy in its place.' 24 To think of Plato, without considering the divine inspiration of philosophy, is to transform Plato into an earthly rhetorician like those he condemned. Phaedrus say to Socrates 'friends have everything in common' thus recognizing their community and Socrates ends the dialogue by saying 'let's be off.'…”

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Keeping Company with the Gods: Plato on Prayer and the Journey to the Divine

Sweeney

2019

The Heythrop Journal

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The battle we have on our hands is never finished and demands tremendous vigilance. However, gods and spirit are fighting on our side.-Plato When we consider the essential traits of philosophy, we might list logic, reason, intellection, or first principles. While these are necessary parts of philosophy, they do not offer a complete description of philosophy as understood by Plato. For Plato, the philosophical life does not just entail thinking or studying but consists of a whole pattern of being. As such, philosophy is not an academic discipline but a spiritual exercise encompassing the whole of life. Nothing should be neglected for the philosopher trying to order their whole life. This entails developing parts of life like virtue, through ascesis, control of the passions, and detachment from bodily concerns. Platonic philosophy also requires prayer. Prayer is not a secondary concern for the philosophical life; it is an essential component of being a lover of wisdom. To understand this, one must understand that the philosophical life is an ascent or journey to the divine. The philosopher, who loves wisdom, seeks to become wise and virtuous, which means to become divine. This journey to the divine is not something that a person can achieve on their own. Philosophy is not done in isolation; the philosopher depends on having the right kind of company. This is why we rarely see Socrates philosophize alone and why Plato was quick to establish a school or community of philosophers. The philosopher-in-community cannot be in community with humans (philosophoi) alone; we must keep company with the gods (sophoi). Keeping company necessitates prayer to the gods; because, prayer, in the broad sense of the term, just is keeping company with the gods. To consider this, we will need to reflect on the aspects of prayer that Plato presents throughout his dialogues. This requires a reflection on the ascent to the divine and what keeping company with the gods means. Further, we will need to consider the relationship of prayer and discourse and how they support each other. Prayer is necessary component of the philosophical life as a keeping company with the gods by interceding for their help so we may pray and reason well, so that through divine education, we will be able to honour the gods by growing to be like them. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING? In Greek religion, the division between the gods and the human was complex and ambiguous. In one sense, it was strict: mortals could not ascend Olympus, and they could not make themselves divine. The attempt leads to disastrous consequences like Phaeton's ill-fated ride of Helios' chariot. On the other hand, the divine-human divide was not so strict that the gods and

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Poetry, Rhetoric, and Fiction in Plato'sPhaedrus

Ausland

2010

Symbolae Osloenses

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The Strangeness of the Phaedrus

Cited by 6 publications

References 20 publications

Revisiting Plato’s Pharmacy

Revisiting Plato’s Pharmacy

Keeping Company with the Gods: Plato on Prayer and the Journey to the Divine

Poetry, Rhetoric, and Fiction in Plato'sPhaedrus

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