Ask not what you can do with philosophy, but what philosophy can do with you! In this episode, I discuss life from Plato's Cave from a philosophical perspective with Johannes Niederhauser. We discuss, among other things, Heidegger's Essay Plato's Doctrine of Truth.

A superficial reading of Plato's Cave might suggest that there are two worlds, and that the truth is something out there to be found like an island out in the ocean (or like a sun-drenched paradise outside the cave). But is that really the case? Heidegger puts forward a radically different interpretation than the two-world theory of Plato's Cave. Truth is not about whether something is correct, but rather about the degree to which it un-hides or reveals what is hidden. Truth happens because we participate in it, and this is not a one-time event but a path we travel over and over again. Also, we better not rush but take the time at each stage to let it reveal itself to us.

What's YOUR interpretation of Plato's allegory? I would love to hear! Leave me a voicemail. It's really easy. You click the record button, speak, and hit send. I might play your message in a future episode and respond.

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Enjoy!

Mario

About Johannes Niederhauser

Johannes is the founder of the Halkyon Thinkers' Guild (https://www.halkyonguild.org/), created the youtube channel Classical Philosophy (https://www.youtube.com/c/ClassicalPhilosophy). Johannes' book "Heidegger on Death and Being" is available here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-51375-7.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohannesAchill

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/classical.philosophy/

Here are references to some of the sources that came up in our conversation:

- Heidegger (1953), The Fundamental Question of Metaphysics (https://stjuphilosophyreadinggroup.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/fundamental-question-of-metaphysics-the.pdf)

- Johannes reading Plato's Cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn0OaSWLYpk

- E.M. Foster (1909),The Machine Stops (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops). Johannes reads and discusses it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uioIJK0INc 

- Heidegger wrote a short essay on Plato's Cave called "Plato's Doctrine of Truth" which is recommended if you have never read anything by him (http://artsingames.free.fr/Heidegger,%20Martin%20-%20Plato's%20Doctrine%20of%20Truth.pdf). The longer version of this is the book The Essence of Truth (https://www.amazon.com/Essence-Truth-Theaetetus-Bloomsbury-Revelations/dp/147252571X)

- The other philosophers Johannes mentions are Georg Hegel, Immanuel Kant and Jean Beaudrillard

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Illustration © by Julien Penning, Light One Art: https://www.instagram.com/light_one_art/