Theuth versus Thamus: the esoteric Plato revisited

The distinction between esoteric and exoteric readings of Plato will be revisited in this article with respect to two esoteric approaches: the German Tübingen School and the American Straussians (i.e., those interpreters who have been inspired by the work of Leo Strauss). There appears to be a joint motivation for these two approaches, namely, the critique of writing in the dialogue Phaedrus and especially Socrates’ objection that the written text speaks indiscriminately to every audience. While the Straussians claim that the Platonic dialogues are exempt from the critique because they exhibit the flexibility of oral speech, the Tübingen School relates the dialogues to an unwritten Platonic doctrine. In this article, I argue that both approaches rightly alert us to the significance and complexity of the critique of writing, yet provide one-sided readings which do not consider all of Socrates’ arguments and neglect the positions ascribed to Theuth and Thamus. When the different arguments are taken into account, the ambiguity of writing is revealed which does not allow for simple solutions concerning the status of the Platonic dialogues as written texts.The distinction between esoteric and exoteric readings of Plato will be revisited in this article with respect to two esoteric approaches: the German Tübingen School and the American Straussians (i.e., those interpreters who have been inspired by the work of Leo Strauss). There appears to be a joint motivation for these two approaches, namely, the critique of writing in the dialogue Phaedrus and especially Socrates’ objection that the written text speaks indiscriminately to every audience. While the Straussians claim that the Platonic dialogues are exempt from the critique because they exhibit the flexibility of oral speech, the Tübingen School relates the dialogues to an unwritten Platonic doctrine. In this article, I argue that both approaches rightly alert us to the significance and complexity of the critique of writing, yet provide one-sided readings which do not consider all of Socrates’ arguments and neglect the positions ascribed to Theuth and Thamus. When the different arguments are taken into account, the ambiguity of writing is revealed which does not allow for simple solutions concerning the status of the Platonic dialogues as written texts

Social networks as inauthentic sociality

This article argues that social networks constitute an inauthentic form of sociality. The two component concepts of this claim, inauthenticity and sociality, are explored in order to avoid some widespread misinterpretations. Inauthenticity is examined on the basis of the relevant sections in Heidegger’s 'Being and Time', first with respect to its main characteristics, then in terms of what motivates it and its benefits, and finally with respect to its status as a non-normative concept. The second part of the paper explores sociality. Here, a main emphasis is the way in which my body imposes constraints on my social relations in the here and now, which virtuality appears to overcome. Yet such an escape from corporeality is not ultimately possible. The third and final part takes the analysis to the wider level of world, that is, our current historical world which has given rise to such an understanding of sociality

Fair Trade

This paper deals with the behavior of fair trade organizations in an oligopolistic setting in which the vertically integrated fair trade firm produces a commodity which is a weak substitute for another commodity. Profit-maximizing oligopolists are vertically disintegrated and produce for both markets and the fair trade firm can charge a premium to consumers due to a "warm glow effect" that depends on the wage paid to fair trade producers. We show that trade integration will unambiguously increase the size of the fair trade firm. However, the relative size compared to oligopolists shrinks with integration. The effect of a change in substitutability between the two commodities on markets shares depends on the relative market potential. Furthermore, we show that the warm glow effect does not support an expansion of the volume of fair trade.

How does state ownership affect optimal export taxes?

This note discusses the influence of state ownership on optimal export taxes. We demonstrate an invariance theorem: the degree of state ownership affects neither the level of socially optimal export levels nor welfare nor the level of optimal trade taxes.

Public Ownership and Trade Policy

This paper discusses the influence of public ownership on trade policy instruments. We demonstrate three important invariance results. First, the degree of public ownership affects neither the level of socially optimal activities nor welfare if the government chooses optimal trade policy instruments. Second, in the case of rivalry between domestic export firms, the optimal export tax is independent of the degree of public ownership. Third, in the case of rivalry in the home market, the optimal import tariff is independent of the degree of public ownership. In this case, the optimal production subsidy decreases with public ownership if the optimal tariff is positive. For the case of Cournot rivalry in a third market, the optimal export subsidy is an increasing function of the public ownership share, while in the case of Bertrand rivalry with differentiated products, the optimal export tax is an increasing function of that parameter. Cet article considère l’influence de la propriété publique sur les choix des politiques commerciales. Nous démontrons trois théorèmes sur l’invariance. Premièrement, le degré de la propriété publique n’a aucun impact sur le niveau des activités optimales si le gouvernement utilise les politiques commerciales optimales. Deuxièmement, dans le cas de concurrence entre les firmes qui exportent, le taux de taxe optimale est indépendant du degré de la propriété publique. Troisièmement, dans le cas de concurrence sur le marché domestique, le taux de tarif douanier optimal est indépendant du degré de la propriété publique. Dans le cas de concurrence à la Cournot sur un troisième marché, le taux d’aide optimale est une fonction croissante du pourcentage de la possession publique, tandis que dans le cas de concurrence à la Bertrand, le taux de taxe optimale en est une fonction décroissante.Semi-public firms, trade policy, Entreprises semi-publiques, politiques commerciales

Commodity Taxation and international Trade in Imperfect Markets

This paper studies non-cooperative commodity taxation in a trade model with im-perfect competition and trade costs. Nationally optimal tax policy simultaneously tries to correct the domestic distortion from imperfect competition and to shift rents to the home country. Importantly, this trade-off depends qualitatively on the inter-national commodity tax regime in operation. For low levels of trade costs, we show that production-based commodity taxes dominate from a global welfare perspective, but this ranking is reversed in favor of consumption-based taxation when trade costs become sufficiently high.

Who’s afraid of birth? Exploring mundane and existential affects with Heidegger

While certain levels of fear and anxiety seem quite appropriate to the experience of birth, it is detrimental if they become overwhelming. This article strives to understand birth-related affects more thoroughly by asking which affects are commonly involved, and how they come about. Martin Heidegger provides the most developed phenomenology of affects available to us. A phenomenological perspective proves useful because its close description allows categorising affects into mundane ones like fears (evoked by specific entities and circumstances) and existential ones like anxiety. Anxiety concerns our existence in its entirety and brings us face to face with the fact that we are finite beings in a groundless existence. Giving birth means needing to negotiate existential affects in a mundane situation. The birth-giving woman is dependent on others to take her seriously in her experience of affective turmoil in which anxiety and wonder, fears and anticipatory anxiousness come together

Plasma N-Terminal Pro-Brain Natriuretic Peptide as Prognostic Marker in Fatal Cardial Decompensation with Sunitinib Malate Therapy

A 74-year-old man with metastatic renal cell carcinoma and a history of cardiac failure was treated with sunitinib malate. MUGA echocardiography could not detect a relevant change in the ejection fraction although the clinical situation of the patient worsened dramatically. The only parameter to hint at the deteriorated cardiac function was plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (BNP). Finally, the patient died after only one cycle of sunitinib treatment. We propose to prospectively include BNP for the early detection of cardiovascular decompensation in high-risk patients. Future studies concerning the relevance of BNP in drug-related cardiotoxicity are urgently needed. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base

Plato’s unwritten doctrines: a discussion

The Editor has received a letter from prof. Thomas Szlezák in connection to prof. Tanja Staehler’s paper Theuth versus Thamus: the esoteric Plato revisited, published in this Journal vol. 7 1 2013. We reproduce here both his letter and her response to it