Heidegger on Plato's Myths

Abstract

Plato criticized Mythos for its falsity, but he uses many myths in his own dialogues on the way to attaining truth. He had a distinct standard for making use of or dismissing a myth: truth or falsity. His myths are the inseparable part of his philosophical logos. Heidegger interpreted the myths in Republic from the perspective of the truth of being. Polis is a metaphor of alētheia. The Cave myth presents a vivid picture of how to reach truth by struggling with concealment. The Er myth showed that unconcealment is destined to decline and turn to concealment. As the souls were required to drink the water of ameleta, concealment and forgetfulness entered into the essence of human being. In the essence of truth there is untruth, the counter-essence of truth. Firstly, the truth is reached by struggling with every kind of untruth. Secondly, according to the essence of being, truth of being or the presencing is in order, which means that it comes from concealment and soon goes into concealment again. The truth of being is not physis/emerging as in the Greek, but declining. The decline is determined from the start, as destiny.