Between Chora and the Good: Metaphor's Metaphysical Neighborhood (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

Plato's chora as developed in the Timaeus is a creative matrix in which things arise and stand out in response to the lure of the Good. Chora is paired with the Good, its polar opposite; both are "beyond being" and the metaphors hitherto thought to disclose the transcendent. They underlie Plato's distinction of a procreative gap between being and becoming. The chiasmus between the Good and chora makes possible their mutual participation in one another. This gap makes possible both phenomenological and cosmological interpretations of Plato. Metaphor is restricted to beings as they appear in this gap through the crossing of metaphor's terms, terms that dwell with, rather than subulate, one another. Hermeneutically, through its "is" we can see something being engendered or determined by that crossing. Bigger's larger goal is to align the primacy of the Good in Plato and Christian Neoplatonism with the creator God of Genesis and the God of love in the New Testament. Plato's chora as developed in the Timaeus is a creative matrix in which things arise and stand out in response to the lure of the Good. Chora is paired with the Good, its polar opposite; both are “beyond being” and the metaphors hitherto thought to disclose the transcendent. They underlie Plato's distinction of a procreative gap between being and becoming. The chiasmus between the Good and chora makes possible their mutual participation in one another. This gap makes possible both phenomenological and cosmological interpretations of Plato. Metaphor is restricted to beings as they appear in this gap through the crossing of metaphor's terms, terms that dwell with, rather than subulate, one another. Hermeneutically, through its“is”we can see something being engendered or determined by that crossing. The book's larger goal is to align the primacy of the Good in Plato and Christian Neoplatonism with the creator God of Genesis and the God of love in the New Testament Contents 9 Preface 13 Acknowledgments 21 Introduction 27 Chapter 1: The Place of Metaphor 47 Chapter 2: The Matrix 77 Chapter 3: Plato’s Idea Theory 109 Chapter 4: To Feel and to Know 147 Chapter 5: Deictic Metaphor 178 Chatper 6: Truth and Metaphor 208 Chapter 7: Aristotle: Poetry and the Proper 234 Chaper 8: “To the Things Themselves” 248 Chapter 9: The Hypostasis: Its Thisness and Its There 263 Chapter 10: Elementals 289 Chapter 11: Time’s Arrow 302 Chatper 12: The Originary 324 Chapter 13: Otherwise than Metaphor 351 Chapter 14: Saying Something 369 Chapter 15: The Receptacle 388 Chapter 16: À Dieu 407 Notes 427 Bibliography 497 Index 517 Other Books in Fordham's Perspectives in Continental Philosophy Series 523 "Plato's chora, as developed in the Timaeus, is a creative matrix in which things arise and stand out in response to the lure of the Good. Chora is paired with the Good, its polar opposite; both are "beyond being" and the metaphors hitherto thought to disclose the transcendent. They underlie Plato's distinction of a procreative gap between being and becoming." "Bigger's larger goal is to align the primacy of the Good in Plato and Christian Neoplatonism with the creator God of Genesis and the God of love in the New Testament."--BOOK JACKET Ch. 1. Place Of Metaphor -- Ch. 2. Matrix -- Ch. 3. Plato's Idea Theory -- Ch. 4. To Feel And To Know -- Ch. 5. Deictic Metaphor -- Ch. 6. Truth And Metaphor -- Ch. 7. Aristotle : Poetry And The Proper -- Ch. 8. To The Things Themselves -- Ch. 9. Hypostasis: Its Thisness And Its There -- Ch. 10. Elementals -- Ch. 11. Time's Arrow -- Ch. 12. Originary -- Ch. 13. Othewise Than Metaphor -- Ch. 14. Saying Something -- Ch. 15. Receptacle -- Ch. 16. Dieu. Charles P. Bigger. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 471-489) And Index.