Dialogue Discontinued: Heidegger on a Few Pages of Plato’s Theaetetus

Abstract

; According to Heidegger's own testimony, his 1940 essay, "Plato's Doctrine of Truth," is derived from a course he first delivered in 1931/32. Yet, while an interpretation of the Theaetetus is central to the argument in 1931/32, this dialogue is not so much as mentioned in the 1940 essay. The reason is that Heidegger's own careful and insightful reading of the Theaetetus simply does not support his thesis regarding Plato's "doctrine of truth." But then the real interest of this reading is that it affords the opportunity for pursuing a genuine dialogue between Heidegger and Plato that was too abruptly discontinued.