Ἐξαίφνης: Platone e la via del ‘non'. A partire da Franco Chiereghin

The Greek word exaiphnes is a temporal adverb, and is usually translated in Italian with the adjectives istantaneo (instantaneous), improvviso (sudden), or with the substantives attimo (moment or instant). D’improvviso (suddenly) conserves in adverbial form the reference to the adjective, thus emphasizing the ambiguous nature of the reference, which is not per se (kath’hautó). Starting with Plato, this article proposes an investigation of the use of the adverb exaiphnes. The subtitle of the article: the way of negation, wishes to show how negation leads to a moment when the truth suddenly opens up: freed from the chains that bound the prisoner at the bottom of the cave, as soon as he sees things in the sun’s light he recognizes that they are not as he had seen them in the dark, when they were mere images on the cave walls. The not thus, spells out the negation and integrates it.