•  1
    Colloquium 4 Commentary on Sanday
    Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 37 (1): 159-164. 2023.
    Sanday reads the Statesman as intertwining images with dialectical thinking. On the one hand, we advance from opinions to knowledge by gradually turning away from images and embracing rational arguments instead; on the other, dialectical knowledge must rely on images in order to be effective for the political community. My present comments come not to challenge, but rather to complement, and perhaps refine, Sanday’s account. I begin by highlighting the distinction that the Stranger draws between…Read more
  •  44
    Companion to Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy (review)
    with Mãdãlina Diaconu, Janko Lozar, Victor Popescu, Viorel Nita, Stefan Nicolae, and Cristian Ciocan
    Studia Phaenomenologica 3 (1): 277-307. 2003.
    Charles E. SCOTT, Susan M. SCHOENBOHM, Daniela VALLEGA-NEU, Alejandro VALLEGA, Companion to Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy, IndianaUniversity Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 2001 ; Gernot BÖHME, Aisthetik. Vorlesungen über Ästhetik als allgemeine Wahrnehmungslehre, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München, 2001 ; Dean KOMEL, Osnutja k Filozofski in Kulturni Hermenevtiki [Outlines to Philosophical and Cultural Hermeneutics], Nova revija, Ljubljana, 2001 ; Marc RICHIR, L’institution de l’idéalité.…Read more
  •  319
    Book reviews (Martin HEIDEGGER, Reden und andere Zeugnisse eines Lebensweges; ..., etc.) (review)
    with Gabriel Cercel, Attila Szigeti, Cristian Ciocan, Mădălina Diaconu, Roxana Albu, Bogdan Mincă, Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban, and Mihail Neamţu
    Studia Phaenomenologica 1 (1): 319-435. 2001.
    "Gabriel Cercel: Martin HEIDEGGER, Reden und andere Zeugnisse eines Lebensweges; Attila Szigeti: Emmanuel LEVINAS, Positivité et transcendance. Suivi de Lévinas et la phenomenology; Cristian Ciocan: Jean-Luc MARION, Crucea vizibilului; Gabriel Cercel: Mădălina DIACONU, Blickumkehr. Mit Martin Heidegger zu einer relationalen ästhetik; Cristina Ionescu: Mark WRATHALL, Jeff MALPAS, Essays in Honour of Hubert L. Dreyfus; Cristian Ciocan: Ion COPOERU, Aparenţă şi sens. Repere ale fenomenologiei const…Read more
  •  2
    The unity of the Philebus: metaphysical assumptions of the good human life -- The placement of pleasure and knowledge in the fourfold articulation of reality -- Hybrid varieties of pleasure: true mixed pleasures and false pure pleasures -- The nature of pleasure: absolute standards of filling or replenishment and due measure -- Pleasures of learning and the role of due measure in experiencing them -- Plato's conception of pleasure confronting three Aristotelian critiques -- The Philebus' implici…Read more
  •  42
    The Meno is often interpreted as an illustration of Plato’s decision to replace elenchus with recollection and the method of hypothesis. My paper challenges this view and defends instead two theses: that far from replacing elenchus, the method of hypothesis incorporates and uses elenctic arguments in order to test and build its own steps; and that recollection is not a method of search on a par with elenchus and the method of hypothesis, but is rather primarily a theory that accounts for the met…Read more
  •  5
    Due Measure and the Dialectical Method in Plato’s Statesman
    Journal of Philosophical Research 41 77-104. 2016.
  •  84
    The Mythical Introduction of Recollection in the Meno (81A5–E2)
    Journal of Philosophical Research 31 153-170. 2006.
    This essay explores the relevance of Socrates’ mythical introduction of recollection in the Meno. I argue that the passage at 81a5–e2 addresses different levels of understanding, a superficial and a deeper one, corresponding to a literal and a metaphorical reading respectively. The major themes addressed in this passage—the immortality of the soul, transmigration, rewards and punishments in the after-life, Hades, the kinship of all nature and anamnesis—have distinct meanings depending on whether…Read more
  •  51
    ABSTRACT: This article addresses two main concerns: first, the relation between the truth/falsehood and purity/impurity criteria as applied to pleasure, and, second, the status of our pleasures of learning. In addressing the first, I argue that Plato keeps the truth/falsehood and purity/impurity criteria distinct in his assessment of pleasures and thus leaves room for the possibility of hybrid pleasures in the form of true impure pleasures and false pure pleasures. In addressing the second issue…Read more
  •  417
    Companion to Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy (review)
    Studia Phaenomenologica 3 (1-2): 277-281. 2003.
    Charles E. SCOTT, Susan M. SCHOENBOHM, Daniela VALLEGA-NEU, Alejandro VALLEGA, Companion to Heidegger’s Contributions to Philosophy, IndianaUniversity Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 2001 ; Gernot BÖHME, Aisthetik. Vorlesungen über Ästhetik als allgemeine Wahrnehmungslehre, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, München, 2001 ; Dean KOMEL, Osnutja k Filozofski in Kulturni Hermenevtiki [Outlines to Philosophical and Cultural Hermeneutics], Nova revija, Ljubljana, 2001 ; Marc RICHIR, L’institution de l’idéalité.…Read more
  •  64
    Recollection and the Method of Collection and Division in the Phaedrus
    Journal of Philosophical Research 37 1-24. 2012.
    When dealing with the metaphysical and epistemological implications of the Phaedrus, scholars have had the tendency to focus either on recollection or on discerning the methodological articulations of dialectical rhetoric. The present paper explores the relation between recollection and the dialectical method, and argues that recollection and the method of collection and division are complementary aspects of dialectical investigation, the method providing a strategy of reasoning, while the theor…Read more
  •  30
    Essays in Honour of Hubert L. Dreyfus (review)
    Studia Phaenomenologica 1 (1-2): 344-350. 2001.
  •  8
    The Mythical Introduction of Recollection in the Meno (81A5–E2)
    Journal of Philosophical Research 31 153-170. 2006.
    This essay explores the relevance of Socrates’ mythical introduction of recollection in the Meno. I argue that the passage at 81a5–e2 addresses different levels of understanding, a superficial and a deeper one, corresponding to a literal and a metaphorical reading respectively. The major themes addressed in this passage—the immortality of the soul, transmigration, rewards and punishments in the after-life, Hades, the kinship of all nature and anamnesis—have distinct meanings depending on whether…Read more
  •  1
    No Title available: Dialogue
    Dialogue 49 (2): 322-324. 2010.
  •  17
    Recollection and the Method of Collection and Division in the Phaedrus
    Journal of Philosophical Research 37 1-24. 2012.
    When dealing with the metaphysical and epistemological implications of the Phaedrus, scholars have had the tendency to focus either on recollection or on discerning the methodological articulations of dialectical rhetoric. The present paper explores the relation between recollection and the dialectical method, and argues that recollection and the method of collection and division are complementary aspects of dialectical investigation, the method providing a strategy of reasoning, while the theor…Read more
  •  88
    ABSTRACT: In the Symposium Socrates shows how Diotima initiated him into the mysteries of love in two stages. Yet, at first sight, the teachings offered at the two stages seem divergent and discontinuous. In this article I argue that we can understand the continuity between them if we regard Diotima’s notions of spiritual pregnancy and birth-giving as metaphors suggesting that the metaphysical horizon looming in the background of her teaching is that of Plato’s theory of recollection.RÉSUMÉ: Soc…Read more
  •  126
  •  81
    Heidegger’s Temporal Idealism (review)
    Studia Phaenomenologica 1 (1-2): 378-380. 2001.
  •  33
    Colloquium 1 The Place of Pleasure and Knowledge in the Fourfold Ontological Model of Plato’s Philebus
    Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium of Ancient Philosophy 30 (1): 1-32. 2015.
    Plato’s Philebus develops an ontological model in four terms to account for “all the things that are now in the all”. The fourfold model consists of Limit, the Unlimited, the Mixture of these two, and the Cause of the mixture. Traditional interpretations place pleasure in the class of the Unlimited and knowledge either in that of Limit or, sometimes, in that of the Cause of mixtures. The aim of my paper is twofold: it challenges the received interpretation and defends instead the view that pleas…Read more
  •  58
    Plato’s Understanding of Pleasure in the Philebus
    Journal of Philosophical Research 33 1-18. 2008.
    Plato’s definition of pleasure as perceptible replenishment of a lack has been criticized as too narrow and incapable of accounting for some of the corporeal and all the non-corporeal pleasures. Plato’s suggested reply, based on objective standards in relation to which we are to estimate the reality and degree of replenishment we experience, seems to give rise to another difficulty, concerning the legitimate diversity of our natural inclinations and tastes. I argue that Plato’sdefinition of plea…Read more