Abstract
At the beginning of the Phaedrus, as they are walking along the Ilissus, Socrates invites his friend to find together a place where they could both sit down and talk quietly: "Lead on, then, and look out for a good place where we might sit" (229a-b). It is Phaedrus who brings Socrates' attention to "a tall plane tree" ('Oρ ς οâν TMκείν τ3/4ν Øψηλοτάτην πλάτανον). "What about it?" Socrates replies. "There is shade there and a light breeze and grass to sit on," explains Phaedrus, "or, if we wish, to lie down on." It has already been noticed that the "plane tree" (πλάτανος) might entail a reference to the nickname of Aristocles, namely, "Plato" (Πλάτων).1 Were we to employ this scene to illus- trate the purpose of the present volume-thereby sitting down under the same πλάτανος-one could say that it aims at telling the history or counter-history of 20th century phenomenology from the standpoint of Plato, i.e. sub specie Platonis (no matter whether the latter is held as a proper name or as a mere catachresis).