In this chapter, I compare Strauss's and Blumenberg's attempts to re-open the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns by considering their use of Plato's allegory of the cave. More specifically, in the first section, I outline Strauss’s idea of the cave of the moderns as a second, much deeper cave than the natural one Socrates deals with. After this, I sketch the general view of Blumenberg’s Höhlenausgänge (1989), wherein the caves of the moderns are many. In the second section, I focus on the meaning of Strauss’s description of the cave of the ancients as natural, and try to illustrate the objections that Blumenberg raises against all those perspectives that envision an original horizon out of which history would have dangerously brought mankind. In the third section, I address the role that history could play in the practice by which modern philosophy seeks a way out of its caves. Finally, in the fourth section of the chapter, I reflect on the obstruction by the revelation-based tradition of the search for such a way out.
Strauss and Blumenberg on the Caves of the Moderns
Danilo Manca
2021-01-01
Abstract
In this chapter, I compare Strauss's and Blumenberg's attempts to re-open the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns by considering their use of Plato's allegory of the cave. More specifically, in the first section, I outline Strauss’s idea of the cave of the moderns as a second, much deeper cave than the natural one Socrates deals with. After this, I sketch the general view of Blumenberg’s Höhlenausgänge (1989), wherein the caves of the moderns are many. In the second section, I focus on the meaning of Strauss’s description of the cave of the ancients as natural, and try to illustrate the objections that Blumenberg raises against all those perspectives that envision an original horizon out of which history would have dangerously brought mankind. In the third section, I address the role that history could play in the practice by which modern philosophy seeks a way out of its caves. Finally, in the fourth section of the chapter, I reflect on the obstruction by the revelation-based tradition of the search for such a way out.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
