Monserrat, Torres, and Planinc on Voegelin’s Return to the Ancients

Abstract

In their paper “Eric Voegelin on Plato’s Philebus,” Monserrat and Torres offer a compelling discussion of Voegelin’s evocative but ambiguous term metaxy, the pedagogical role of pleasure and pain in his thought, and his notion of a Promethean theophany of order. They do so by examining his analyses of these things in relation to a dialogue that Voegelin often cites as a source-text for his findings but rarely discusses in detail: Plato’s Philebus. I think theirs is one of the most fruitful ways of continuing Voegelin’s project. Best to return to the primary sources in the same spirit in which Voegelin did, following up leads and provocative suggestions but also approaching the texts with the same critical focus that characterized Voegelin’s own work. Since time is limited I will focus primarily on their discussion of the metaxy. It occupies the largest portion of their paper and underlies much of their subsequent discussion of Voegelin’s use of the Philebus for his account of pedagogy and theophany.