The role of Phaos in Nietzsche, Heraclitus and Plato

Abstract

The general purpose of this paper is to discuss various ways in which the contemporary philosophical issues of nihilism and relativism are related to pre-Socratic and Socratic and Platonic thought. Although Heidegger recontoured nihilism's horizons with his emphasis on man's dwelling and revealing functions, the nihilistic perspective continues to cast its shadow. Nihilism, being a position of deep political significance that is derived philosophically, demands a philosophical approach; yet even serious efforts to come to terms with relativism and nihilism, of the sort Max Weber attempted, for example, fail to analyse in sufficient depth their classical roots.