Revisiting the Pharmacy
Plato, Derrida, and the Morality of Political Deceit
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6108364 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael A Rinella (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 134-153 |
| Publication date | 2007-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polis The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0142-257X • E-ISSN: 2051-2996 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/20512996-90000111 |
| OpenAlex | W2038179212 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
The first section of this article examines Jacques Derrida’s essay ‘Plato’s Pharmacy’, specifically his discussion of the ancient Greek word for drug, pharmakon. It is argued that the rhetorical force of Derrida’s essay has led to the mistaken impression that he and more importantly Plato understood pharmakon to have two possible meanings: remedy or poison. In the second section a number of Platonic and other ancient Greek texts are used to demonstrate that pharmakon signified several additional things, such as painters pigment, magical talisman, cosmetic, and mind-altering substance. The final section builds upon Carl Page’s observation that the Noble Lie of the Republic is itself a pharmakon, situating Plato’s Noble Lie in the context of his vision of the philosopher as a moral physician, and Plato’s on-going opposition to psychological conditions characterized by ecstatic displacement
Art · Demon · Epistemology · Literature · Opposition (politics · Platonic idealism · Politics · Rhetorical question · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
| Citations per year | 0.4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |