Document Type : Original Article

Author

• Ali Naqi Baqershahi

Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

Abstract

Plato's views heavily pierced Christian philosophy, filled with religious fervor and irreligious philosophy of continental philosophies such as Heidegger's. This paper focuses on the impact of Platonic philosophy on the development of Christian philosophy with special reference to Heidegger's reading of Plato. Platonic spirit has not only been confined to Christian philosophy in the Middle Ages but even in the contemporary period attracted the attention of philosophers like Heidegger. There is a debate among Christian theologians concerning the role of Plato's philosophy in developing Christian philosophy. Similarly, there is controversy among the opponents and proponents of Heidegger as to whether he succeeded in conducting a constructive dialogue with Plato and benefiting from his views, or, by misreading him, he sought to call into question and overcome Plato's philosophy. The author holds that Heidegger has been considerably indebted to Plato in his philosophical development, but his way of approaching Plato is different from that of other classic commentators. He made a new beginning by approaching Plato from the postmodern perspective and transcending modernity. The main objective of Heidegger was to reconceive the original character of philosophy; to do so, he began his work by rereading Greek philosophy, particularly Plato's philosophy. In this article, Heidegger's works on Plato, such as Plato's Sophist, The Essence of Truth, and Parmenides, have been studied to bring to light his way of dialogue with Plato.

Keywords

• Plato
• Heidegger
• Christian philosophy
• being
• dialogue
• postmodern
• Greek philosophy