Deleuze and Lacoue-Labartheon on the Reversal of Platonism: The Mimetic Abyss

Among Friedrich Nietzsche’s many daring philosophical declarations, one of the most infamous and renowned is an early formula coined in his posthumously published notebooks: “My philosophy an inverted Platonism: the farther removed from true being, the purer, the finer, the better it is. Living in semblance as goal.”  As one can discern here, the theme of inverted Platonism entails a re-valuation of being, truth and the hierarchy between the real and apparent worlds as these notions are conceived within the framework of Platonic thought. Nietzsche’s style of describing his philosophy as a reversal of Platonism has served as a major point of debate in the reception of his work, particularly since Martin Heidegger’s influential lecture courses on the topic.