Against the Sovereignty of Philosophy over Politics

Arendt's Reading of Plato's Cave Allegory

Bibliographic Data

ID4188822
AuthorsMiguel Abensour (corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume74
Issue4
Pages955-982
Publication date2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-783X • E-ISSN: 1944-768X
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/sor.2007.0064
OpenAlexW1527285375
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited2

Miguel Abensour Against the Sovereignty of Philosophy over Politics: Arendt's Reading of Plato's Cave Allegory HANNAH ARENDT IS CELEBRATED AS ONE OF THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS of our time. But is such a celebration truly legitimate? Indeed, as surprising and as paradoxical as it may seem, Hannah Arendt has always demonstrated a strong opposition to political philosophy and to its tradition of thought. Despite almost unanimous recognition of Arendt, the idiom "political philosophy"—and the institutions that are born of it—are highly problematic. For the author of The Human Condition, under the guise of a supposedly happy alliance between the substantive and the qualifier, "political philosophy" willingly conceals a conflict between philosophy and politics and bears the threat of the sovereignty of one over the other. This conflict is extremely profound since it represents opposition not only between two academic disci­ plines but between two modes of existence that seek to establish a hier­ archy—excellence being attributed to one of them, in this case, the bios theoretikos at the expense of the biospoliticos. Little surprise, then, that a philosopher critical of the concept of sovereignty attacks the general configuration of political philoso­ phy. Indeed, Arendt is aware of the necessity of rejecting the model of competence in the political realm in order to better recognize the inherent political capacity of all; her resolve is to struggle against the social research Vol 74 : No 4 : Winter 2007 955 government of philosophers, of "those who know over those who do not know." In order to fully comprehend the "contra political philoso­ phy" that Arendt puts forth, what better vantage point than that of her critical interpretation of Plato's thought? Did the author of the Republic not edify or institute political philosophy away from and even against the polis? In a letter dated May 8,1954, in which she attempts to explain to Heidegger the broad outline of her work, Arendt writes, Starting with the parable of the cave (and your interpreta­ tion of it), a representation of the traditional relationship between philosophy and politics, [we see] actually the atti­ tude of Plato and Aristotle toward the polis as the basis of all political theories. (It seems to me decisive that Plato makes the agathon [the good] the highest idea—and not the kalon [the beautiful]—for political reasons) (Hannah ArendtMartin Heidegger letter, 1925-1975). Two years later, July 1, 1956, in a letter to Karl Jaspers, Arendt once again speaks of Plato's position: It seems to me that in the Republic Plato wanted to "apply" his own theory of ideas to politics, even though that theory had very different origins. Heidegger, it seems to me, is particularly off base in using the cave simile to interpret and "criticize" Plato's theory of ideas, but he is right when he says that in the presentation of the cave simile, truth is transformed on the sly into correctness and, consequently, ideas into standards (Arendt and Jaspers, 1992: 288). From these letters, three essential points can be drawn: ► The importance of the allegory of the cave, which is the heart of Plato's political philosophy. Arendt also adds the importance of 956 social research Heidegger's interpretation in "Plato's Doctrine of Truth." Here we must admit that Arendt expresses a reserve concerning Heidegger's attempt to interpret the Theory of Forms via the cave allegory (Heidegger, 1998:155-182). ► The hypothesis that Plato, in the Republic, sought to apply his Theory of Forms to politics, even if this theory is of a different origin, inas­ much as its aim is to answer the philosophical question of the truth rather than the political question of the organization of the city. It is during this problematic application that Plato realizes the no less problematic passage from the idea of Beauty to the idea of Good. ► The hypothesis of the passage from the idea of Beauty to the idea of Good is confirmed by Heidegger's interpretation, which insists on the ambiguity of the platonic concept of the essence of truth, that would experience a transformation of the truth as "non-voilement de l'étant"to the truth as exactitude of view

Allegory · Epistemology · Literature · Opposition (politics) · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and Literary Analysis · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism

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