3 Review(s)

In "Chorology", John Sallis takes up one of the most enigmatic discourses in the history of philosophy. Plato's discourse on the chora - the chorology - forms the pivotal moment in the Timaeus. Drawing on the entire tradition of commentary from Aristotle and the early Academy, through Plutarch, Plotinus, and especially Proclus, to the recent discussions by Gadamer, Derrida, and others, Sallis undertakes a reinterpretation of the entire dialogue oriented to the chorology. Among its various effects, this reinterpretation unsettles the traditional reading of the famous passage on time as the moving image of eternity. It also resituates the entire cosmological discourse within its political frame. One of the most decisive results of this chorology is to show that the basic distinction between the intelligible and the sensible is, through the invocation of the chora, both founded and, at the same time, displaced. Insofar as this distinction defines the very scope of Westernmetaphysics, the implications of the chorology are momentous and communicate with many of the most decisive issues in contemporary philosophical discussions.