korrupshun Member Joined: Apr 13, 09 Topics: 3 Posts: 10
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Apr 23, 09, 02:27PM
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Topic Title - Derrida, Plato, Foucault, Aristotle
Number of Sources - 4
Essay Topic
Please respond to the following question in the form of a short essay of 1000 words maximum: It is sometimes said that Plato is to Derrida as Aristotle is to Foucault. What do you think? (To respond to this question, you;ll need to summarize relevant points from all four theorists and organize your paper schematically and carefully. One could write a dissertation in response but not in this context! Try to cut to the chase and construct a logical argument in response to this cryptic challenge. You may use, but are not limited to the material in the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism). Recommended Sources: Plato - Ion; Phaedrus; Republic Derrida - Of Grammatology (1967); Dissemination (1972) Aristotle - Poetics; Rhetoric Foucault - What is an Author? (1969); Discipline and Punish: The Birth of The Prison (1975); Truth and Power (1977)
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What Plato is to Derrida, Aristotle is to Foucault
2009
Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a disciple of Plato (c.427-347BCE, one of the world's most commonly read philosophers and student of Socrates) and studied at Plato's Academy for 20 years. He developed on Plato's philosophical teachings. In the same manner, Jacques Derrida, a French linguist, expanded on Michel Foucault's poststructuralist theory that rules and structures are not given in the world but evolve on the basis of power and knowledge by saying that texts can be 'deconstructed' to discover multiple meanings. Plato's later works, including the Republic, combine morals, political philosophy, critical study of human knowledge and metaphysics into an interrelated and orderly philosophy. It is primarily from Plato that we get the theory of Forms, in keeping with which the world is just a replication of the wholesome, undying, and ageless world of the Forms (The Internet Encyclopedia, iep.utm.edu). From Plato, we learn that a man is good, because of his involvement in The Good ("anypothon", in Greek). Aristotle discarded the theory of forms ("eidos") as learnt from Plato. For Plato, forms (eidos) were the main concerns and indispensable conditions to make things comprehensible area as against the knowledge obtained through the senses. The main attention of Plato is an ideal society. He makes a plan for a "utopian" society, in his book The Republic, out of his scorn for the conflict in political life (Hacker, 24). This proposal was an attempt to a new society where such problems would be relieved (Hacker 24). Plato tried to heal the sufferings of both human society and human qualities (Hacker 24). Basically what Plato desires to attain is a faultless society. Derrida is not considered with the politics. Though Derrida himself does not grant deconstruction as a method or school of philosophy, or anything beyond reading the text itself, the term has been used by others to depict as Derrida's methods of textual analysis related to finding, identifying, and appreciating the causal that is tacit and implied— suppositions, ideas, and structures making the foundation for idea and belief, for example, in muddling the plain difference made between nature and culture. Deconstruction unsettles an idea like text triggering questions about the borders, the edges, or the boundaries drawn to define its place in the history of ideas, denotations assuming their identity, coming to denote what they denote, by just such a demarcation of frontiers, resisting ideas to each other, defining terms by their distinctions. So deconstructive reading starts by asking about the borders and the limits and how they come to pass. In Aristotle's metaphysical study of nature and relations of beings, there are only tangible matters (this horse, that goblet, this urn etc.) and in discussion of the specific stuffs we use notions, but the objects - substances - get the main concern before the idea or forms, which we attribute to them. Aristotle built a theory of the good life (eudiamonia) for human beings according to Nichomachean Ethics. He argued that the good life is the most pleasurable one. But that does not mean that the pleasure-hunter's life is the good life. Rather, those who look for pleasure get it from incorrect places, with the consequence of being sidetracked from leading the good life. For Aristotle, Goodness is an indispensable element of the good life. But the good life cannot be related to righteousness since just being righteous is at one with leading an idle life or with misery greatly (Aristotle's Ethics, bcc.ctc.edu). Hence, happiness, which is related to morality, is different from simple pleasure. Moral Virtue is not the ending of life, for it can tone with idleness, unhappiness. He also says that personal good cannot be explained with precise accuracy. Ethics tries to make general values to be used according to the situation within reach (i.e., original conditions). The policy of the average is not a principle of relativism but principle applied to definite state of affairs. For example, the difference between the diet chart for a weight-lifter and a ballerina -- nonetheless, good diet has rules and standards to be applied differently in relation to different original conditions. Pleasure, itself, is a byproduct of action resulting from uninterferred action. As Aristotle articulates, pleasure is the normal adjunct of unhindered actions. It is, per se, neither good nor bad, but something helpful as the consequence of pleasure sharpens the use of that activity. In his philosophical works like Discipline and Punish and The History of Sexuality, Foucault stresses that the body and sexuality, which result in pleasure, are cultural concepts rather than natural occurrences, as Aristotle found. Since the 17th century, the progress of and attention towards people became the main concerns of the state gradually. New systems of power surfaced centering around the supervision of 'life', that Foucault defines as 'bio-power', a new form of power combined around two poles, one concerned with the management of the life processes of the social mass, controlling such happenings as birth, death, sickness, disease, health, sexual relations and so on and the other pole that Foucault tagged as 'disciplinary power', aiming at the human body as an object to be maneuvered and educated. Foucault's idea that the body and sexuality are cultural creates has attracted the modern by relating power with and the body, albeit some of them have also drawn notice to its supposed weak points. In Discipline and Punish he depicts the way in which the most important method of disciplinary power, that is constant watch to be snatching the mind other than disciplining the body also. This is to generate a psychological condition of 'conscious and permanent visibility' (Foucault 1977: 201), sense of self- alertness that makes the modern individual. Foucault best exposes the systems at work in the building and upholding of the socio-cultural aspect of embodied sexuality. In spite of some significant indications where "bodies and pleasures" might challenge conventional steadiness, Foucault openly describes the striking display of disciplinary methods aimed at the singular body in all its facets, but primarily in its sexual pleasures (Foucault 1979, 1980). He shows that distant from begin in an intuitive, biological ground, sexuality continuously is in a state of vibrant development that is neither programmed nor totally open to intended options. Instead, sexuality is "organized by power in its grip on bodies and their materiality, their forces, energies, sensations and pleasures" (Foucault, 1979: 155). Thus, it can be said that what Plato is to Derrida, Aristotle is to Foucault, the earlier two philosophers being the forerunners of the latter though separated by centuries. Aristotle, contrasting Plato, was not bothered with improving society. He only wanted to perk up the existing one. Before making a plan for the ideal society, Aristotle advised, in his work, The Politics, that the society itself should achieve the best promising orderliness that could be arrived at (Hacker 71). Aristotle trusted in the deductive method (Hacker 76). Aristotle found the best achievable had been acquired and what could be done was to strive to get better on the existing one. Foucault, too, says that the world is defined by the power relations and can hardly be changed. On the other hand, Derrida tries to deconstruct texts to unearth an utopian society.
Works Cited Foucault, Michel, Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings, 1977-1984, L. Kritzman (ed.), London: Routledge, 1988a. ---- Power/Knowledge, U.K.: Harvester, 1980 ----- The History of Sexuality, translated by R. Hurley, Penguin Books, 1978. ------ Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. A. Sheridan, Harmondsworth: Peregrine, 1977. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics in Introduction to Aristotle. Trans. Richard McKeon ,New York: The Modern Library, Ch. 1, 1094a, 1-3, 1947 Aristotle's Ethics, retrieved from <http://facweb.bcc.ctc.edu/wpayne/aristotle1.htm> Plato, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, <http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/plato.htm> Aristotle, <http://www.findlink.dk/?Aristotle>. Hacker, Andrew. Political Theory: Philosophy, Ideology, Science. New York: Macmillan, 1961.
Derrida, Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatri Spivak, Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974
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Opposing Philosophical Views Philosophy is often mistakenly viewed as a single trajectory, leading from Socrates to Plato to Aristotle and through the rest of the classical period, hibernating somewhat during the Dark Ages, and being restored again with the Enlightenment thinkers during the Renaissance. This simplistic view about the progress of Western thought could not be further from the truth, however. Philosophy is built on disagreement and the careful and skeptical analysis of other viewpoints, and most of civilization's greatest philosophers find themselves in disagreement with other leading thinkers quite often, if not absolutely every time they advance a theory. This was true of ancient times just as it is now. Socrates was famously killed for propagating many of his beliefs, many of which ran counter to the prevailing logic and philosophy of the day. It is perhaps less well known yet arguably more important that Aristotle, who came directly after Plato as the leading philosopher of his age, disagreed on many important points with his predecessor. Their views on many things, but especially literature and other arts, are widely divergent and contradictory. Whereas Plato was rather conservative and even dismissive in his view regarding art, Aristotle celebrated it as a natural part of humanity. This is, of course, a broad oversimplification of one of the many areas of disagreement between these two philosophers. Yet this view is not entirely inaccurate, and similar disagreements persist to this day. Two of the most prominent philosophers of the twentieth century, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, also found themselves opposed to each other in many views, not the least of which was the nature of art and the role of the author. In fact, its has been said that Plato is to Derrida as Aristotle is to Foucault, and such a comparison is not without merit. To understand the ways in which these philosophers and their philosophies intersect and diverge, it is perhaps best to start with the earliest among them. In works like The Republic and Ion, Plato set out a clear stance against art, including poetry and drama (the established and virtually indistinguishable forms of literature in his day). At the same time, he considered beauty to be among the greatest of goods; a sign of divinity or near divinity. Though it might seem strange for beauty to be considered so good and art so evil, it is the very relationship between art and beauty and his immense appreciation of the latter that led Plato to his dismissal of the former. Mimesis, or imitation (from which is derived our modern word "mimic"), was in Plato's mind one of the great evils. His conception of reality was that the world inhabited by humans was merely a shadow of the perfect world of the gods, and that this made the mortal world an imperfect imitation of a perfect existence. Any form of mimesis of representation consciously engaged in by mortals in this shadow world was, therefore, simply an imitation of an imitation, and fails automatically because it originates in representation rather than reality (Republic 603b). In Plato's shortest dialogue, Ion, he seems to argue that an actor's portrayal of emotions is either a form of madness or inspired by simple greed. Neither of these would be considered good either by Plato's standards or our own, and the dialogue is constructed to exclude all other possibilities (536d,e). In short, Plato believes that we inhabit a world of imitation, and that any further imitation only separates us more from the truth. Plato believed that a search for the real truth—or at least a rejection of known facsimiles—was the only moral way to live. Jacques Derrida has been accused of writing in a deliberately obtuse and obfuscated manner, so the relationship between his work and that of Plato's might not be immediately discernible. Perhaps the clearest connection between the two can be derived from Derrida's Of Grammatology, especially as it compares to Plato's aesthetics and view of reality. In this rather dense treatise, Derrida first outlines the phenomenon of what he calls logocentrism—the attitude that speech (logos in Greek) is the most basic and essential form of language, while writing is secondary in development and its ability to reflect meaning. Derrida claims that logocentrism has long been a silent and foundational part of Western thought, even from the time of Plato. Plato believed that truth and meaning existed in a pure state somewhere, with the shadows of meanings existing in our own world. Derrida sees this as a flawed worldview, though not without potential. He uses some of Plato's thinking to deconstruct logocentrism. If speech is merely a representation of thought, and writing just a representation of speech, than writing is a representation of a representation—the evil mimesis of Plato's aesthetics. Through his method of deconstructing such binary oppositions, Derrida makes it clear (or at least as clear as he ever makes anything) that both speech and writing our subservient to each other, and actually create meaning. This has to do with the deceptively simple concepts of presence and absence—writing is present for the reader, whereas speech is always-already absent, having passed before the thoughts it contains can be processed. Derrida then claims not hat writing is more important than speech, but that both are equally adept at creating meaning and not merely represnting it; there is no meaning without presence, and so the speaker (or author) ceases to matter. In a sense, this argument could be summed up as saying that the medium is meaning, precisely the opposite of what Plato proposed. Aristotle proposed another opposite to Plato's conception of mimesis. He agreed that all art was mimesis—an imitation—but noted that humans were naturally imitative creatures. But despite the fact that all humans had the capability of mimesis, it is also easily noted that some are better at it than others. That is, some imitations were better at achieving the emotional release or catharsis that Aristotle thought should be the aim of all art, especially drama (Poetics, 1449b). Therefore authorship was of immense importance to Aristotle. Each author was an individual conduit of imaginative imitation that could never again be produced, and meaning was created by individual interpretation. Foucault's essay "What is an Author?" can be read as a direct extension of such Aristotelian beliefs. He comments on our tendency to imagine authors as isolated beings, not admitting that they are products of their times. He also nots that their words do not exist in a vacuum, and thoughthe words of a book would not change if it was discovered to have been written by a different author, our perception of those words and their meanings would. Meaning—not just words themselves, the representations of meaning—is subjective, according to Foucault. This makes the question of authorship of great importance in establishing truth. It should be clear now why it is said that Plato is to Derrida as Aristotle is to Foucault. The concepts of aesthetics and truth follow a convoluted path over the millennia between the two sets of philosophers, and the issues are still unresolved.
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Derrida, Foucalt, Plato and Aristotle
There is no shortage of discourse or influence of the famed thinkers, Derrida, Foucault, Plato and Aristotle. Both singularly and in conjunction with one another, virtually volumes have been written discussing their perspectives and even their relationships with one another to a degree. In terms of those relationships, it is sometimes said that Plato is to Derrida as Aristotle is to Foucault. In an effort to analyze this statement, the general thematic related to the individual's respective theory will be analyzed. In short, there is much veracity to the afore mentioned statement and the way in which the patterns of though interact between them makes this proclamation solid enough for a general understanding of their respective positions. The statement, "Plato is to Derrida as Aristotle is to Foucault" requires a close reading in order to make the necessary critical connections. First and foremost, the relationships between the thinkers can be classified according to time periods. Derrida and Foucault were living and propagating their theses as contemporaries of one another. Similarly, Aristotle was a student of Plato so they too can be considered contemporaries of one another to an extent. In terms of these relationships between contemporaries, each formulated conflicting theses from the other. For example, Derrida was an advocate of deconstructionist thought and Focault was associated with the structuralist movement. In the case of Plato and Aristotle, Plato saw the possibility of a political institution with classes that would not clash with one another that was ruled by the aristocracy. In contrast, Aristotle did not embrace the oligarchy favored by Plato in a favor of a system that was between a democracy and an oligarchy. In essence, Derrida and Foucault were in opposition to one another based on their position much in the same way that Plato and Aristotle for. When the collision between the doctrines of Derrida and Foucault are weighed against the classical debate present in Plato and Aristotle's doctrine, it can be accurately concluded that Derrida's position is more akin to Plato and Foucault's is more akin to Aristotle's. To better understand this relationship, specific references to their respective works are necessary for critical comparison. The philosophies of Plato and Aristotle differ on many issues (Northeastern 1). One of the most important things on which their differences appear are on their ethical theory (1). In short, Plato sees justice as a human virtue and Aristotle sees happiness as the ultimate goal to pursue (1). According to Plato in The Republic Book II, "...if each person does one thing for which he is naturally suited, does it at the right time, and is released from having to do any of others" better-quality of goods are more likely produced (56). Aristotle, in contrast has trouble with the aristocratic interpretations of what's best for another person. He has great mistrust of the tyrannical propensities for such an order. He states, "Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms" (345). In addition, he goes on to continue regarding the nature of the men in positions of governance, "There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters" (601). Justice as an individual human virtue, simply cannot holistically be present in the master and slave model or system of governance. The contexts of pursuing happiness would not produce consistent variables as each individual would have different interpretations that would extend beyond a soul starving for virtue. Aristotle presents a more complex and realistic format than the absolutes but forth by Plato. There is, however, a satisfaction and sense of stability present in establishing absolutes in the human psyche. As similar phenomenon can be found when considering Derrida and Foucault. In Truth and Power, Foucault takes a stand akin to the Aristotle argument that looks up on those in power or seeking power with scrutiny. Though perhaps not the same argument, his position in the respective debate of his era is more similar to how Aristotle stood against Plato. Foucault states "...it's not so much a matter of knowing what external power imposes itself on science, as of what effects of power circulate among scientific statements, what constitutes, as it were, their internal regime of power" (200). Power, in this model, has a disposition to influence things potentially quite negatively thus moving in a direction potentially detrimental to humankind regardless of its perceived legitimacy. The accord between classes or powers, as propagated by Plato, simply would not exist as historically, Foucault believes, chaos has been a result of colliding powers (150). Derrida, on the other hand, takes on a position more akin to Plato in his respective debate and has actually referenced Plato a great deal during his writings. Derrida, however, during his discourse on Plato, deconstructs the text and actually finds an number of inconsistencies in the dialogue of Plato. As a result, it is important to note that the commonality between Derrida and Plato is not a literal acceptance by Derrida of Plato's doctrine but an overall mood of the role he plays in the Derrida vs. Foucault debate. Derrida, though akin to Plato in this model, is not actually literally subscribing to the same doctrine and this notation is critical for understanding how the relationships between the thinkers work. Derrida, using deconstruction, could do the same thing to virtually any argument that he did to Plato's. In contrast, however, his focus on self reflection or self-consciousness is similar to the innate human desire for virtue that Plato expounds. In contrast, however, justice or virtue would be impossible to achieve by the nature of deconstructionist thought. Like the Plato perspective of aristocracy in the necessity of rule, Derrida does not agree with aristocratic control, however, he does admit that the combination between sovereignty and democracy is a contradiction of terms (Derrida 100). Describing how "Plato is to Derrida as Aristotle is to Foucault" is somewhat of a cryptic task. In this capacity, it is laden with brevity and hidden meanings that extend far beyond simple literal explanations. In this regard, Derrida does not directly subscribe to Plato's school of thought and Foucault does directly subscribe to all that which Aristotle propagates. In reality, the relationship is much more informal and spirited. Spirit, in this capacity, can be defined as in the same vane or taking on similar qualities. In modern times, the debate between Foucault and Derrida is much like the ancient debates between Plato and Aristotle. If viewed in a classic sense, the way in which Derrida's role is characterized in the contemporary debate would be similar to the role that aristotle played in the classic argument. Similarly, the role in which Foucault plays in his respective debate would be more akin to the position of Aristotle. While the examples provided illustrate how the debate manifests and classifies itself in relationship to the statement relationship, this is only one example. There are countless ways in which the relationships between the famed thinkers can be explored. Furthermore, it is probable that the scope of their respective debates and their individual positions will continue to invoke future philosophers who will also debate the subjects.
Works Cited
Aristotle. The Complete Works of Aristotle. Ed. J. Barnes. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984. Derrida, J. Rouges. New York: Stanford University Press, 2004. "Ergon: Plato V. Aristotle." Northeastern University. 2009. <http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/rar/ PvA.htm>. Foucault, M. The Foucault Reader. Ed. P. Rainbow. New York: Pantheon, 1984. Plato. The Republic. New York: Penguin Classics. 1955.

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