ALTERITY IN THE SOPHIST: PLATONIC ECHOES HIDDEN IN THE PROPOSAL RICOEURIANA

Abstract

In the Sophist, Plato already develops argumentative principles on the concepts of identity and recognition, sameness and otherness. In drawing limits between what is characterized by Being, non-Being and the possibility of these two greatness relate to each other, Plato explains, by the stranger’svoice, the same and the other, ways of understanding beings. Ricoeur, on the other hand, elaborates a theory tangent to the recognition and alterity, of the self-as-another as an other, since he insists on the necessity of the other for the formation and recognition of the identity. The objective here is to trace some aspects of Ricoeurian philosophy to the theory formerly proposed by Plato, emphasizing and defending that a) the idea of alterity is already present in the Sophist, depending on the how the concept of ἕτερος [héteros] is understood, and b) what are the main distinctions of Ricoeur’s proposal regarding the Platonic thesis, not directly referenced in his work. Thus, we will open the dialogue between the traditions mentioned above in order to feed the discussion on the possibility of defending traces of otherness  in identifying the Platonic definitions and to what extent they echo in Ricoeur’s hermeneutic and literary proposal.