Chapter 3 Platonic Revivalists? The Cases of Simone Weil and Leo Strauss

In: Brill's Companion to the Legacy of Greek Political Thought
Author:
Robert A. Ballingall
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Type:
Chapter
Pages:
74–103
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004679344_005

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Abstract

Plato wrote dramas, not treatises, and he did not limit his works to rationalistic discourse. Many of them articulate a strange and enduring mythology whose ultimate purpose is famously enigmatic. This chapter examines the controversial readings of two twentieth-century thinkers who place these literary elements at the centre of their interpretations. Simone Weil and Leo Strauss are seldom discussed in the same context, but their approaches to Plato bear surprising resemblances. These figures shared a hope that the philosophic life according to Plato might be revived, and both see in the mythical and dialogic aspects of Plato’s works the key to his understanding of philosophy. Paradoxically, however, it is a testament to that understanding that it inspires radically divergent readings, even or precisely when its relationship to Plato’s dramaturgy is appreciated.

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Series:  Brill's Companions to Philosophy: Ancient Philosophy, Volume: 8 and  Brill's Companions to Philosophy, Volume: 8
Cover Brill's Companion to the Legacy of Greek Political Thought
E-Book ISBN:
9789004679344
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
16 Sep 2024
Front Matter
Introduction
Part 1 The Reproduction of Greek Political Thought
Part 2 Greek Thought in New Environments
Part 3 Variation and Adaptation
Part 4 Greek Thought and the Potential for Dissent
Back Matter

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