The Tragedy of Reason

This work makes a case for the Platonic idea of "logos" as an option for interpreting the role of reason in our lives, as opposed to the roles assigned to reason by Descartes and the Cartesians.

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Philosophy is dominated by two extreme attitudes to reason. The first, following Descartes, finds the paradigms of reason in mathematics and applied science. The second, championed by Derrida and Rorty, holds that reason is decisively over-rated and therefore in need of deconstruction. The Platonic conception of "logos" offers a third way, a tragic conception that is able to affirm the value of reason as well as to situate it properly amidst the contingencies of human life. The book aims to speak, not just to Plato scholars, but to anyone who, because of the overwhelming presence of the Cartesian attitude, has called into question the goodness of reason itself. Rather than abandoning reason and adopting the deconstructive stance which is current among many philosophers popular today, this book offers a form of Platonism as a coherent and viable middle way. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers in classics and philosophy.