Alterity in Plato

resonances of an article by Maria Clara Bingemer

Abstract

In this article, I will present the notion of alterity in Plato. It involves describing some Platonic resonances from Professor Maria Clara Bingemer’s article on Christian mystical subjectivity. The aim is to consider the dimension of alterity present in Plato’s philosophy and correlate it with how Bingemer addresses this same notion in her article. Three points will be discussed: first, I will develop the arguments used by Plato in the dialogue “The Sophist,” where the notion of alterity appears. The necessity of alterity stems from the attempt to overcome the impossibility of asserting something false, based on a sophistic paradox in which the category of the “other of being” appears solely as an absolute nothingness. Secondly, the necessity for the Platonic philosopher to return to the cave after having contemplated the ideas will be presented. This aspect describes the care for the other in its philosophical dimension in “The Republic.” Finally, I
will present a notion of alterity embedded in the cosmos, based on a reading of Plato’s “Timaeus.” Thus, this article presents the notion of alterity in “The Sophist”, the Allegory of the Cave in “The Republic” and in Plato’s “Timaeus”.