It all started as I delved into Platonic philosophy and was "contaminated" by Plato's attempt to mediate between opposite theoretical assumptions. Doing so, he valued mediation (on the ground of its function as a bond between opposites: δεσμός), in no case anticipating Adorno's disregarding mediators for being middle-rate (Minima Moralia). The most fundamental dialogue for my research proved to be the one between Plato and Aristotle: not for the sake of a historical orthodoxy (a hermeneutical illusion as Gadamer exposed), neither exclusively for the reconstruction of the consequent varied development of Platonism and Aristotelianism. Above all, philosophy itself seems to me to be wresting its substance from the tension of the dialogue between Plato and Aristotle. And so we do arrive at the substance of ἁρμονία after which I decided that my blog should be named. With the aid of myth, Harmonia happened to be the daughter of both Ares and Aphrodite. As the step from myth to logos has in the meantime been fulfilled and so as not to be charged with getting caught in not yet philosophically (i.e. scientifically) articulated reasoning, let us briefly enlighten the form but not the content of the harmony at issue: So as to achieve a description of the dialogue between Plato and Aristotle according to the principle of harmony (and not the one of ‘harmonisation’ applied by the entire Neoplatonism), one has to stress the tension between consonance and dissonance.
A similar mediating tendency manifested itself in my attitude not only concerning the dialogue between Plato and Aristotle but regarding contemporary hermeneutical interpretations as well: at the beginning (in my PhD) that concerned the so-called Tübinger School and Platonic research of scholars dealing with Plato and Heidegger. During my academic stay in England (Cambridge), I had the opportunity to get to know the Anglo-Saxon researchers as philosopher-types (who said that philosophy is no ‘way of living’ any longer?) as well as to consider the Anglo-Saxon literature for my Sophist-chapter. While researching the Platonic Receptacle and undertaking to free it from the charge of being bad, I am contemplating with great interest the basis on which a dialogue may continue to be fertile between German and Anglo-Saxon scholars.
To put the objectives of this blog in a nutshell, it is a forum where I can express current problems I am dealing with and also depict other relevant projects and conferences that concern ancient philosophy. The character of the blog will be determined by-and-by: between an impersonal announcement of conferences and a too personal philosophical diary.
The languages I will be writing in are mainly English and German. If things shared will be found interesting and provoke a further inner dialogue and contemplation I will be content. If my monologue turns into dialogue, I will be more than happy.
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