In this essy I shall enter into the vexing question of Plato’s „theory of intermediates“, and the relation of this theory to the Sun, Line and Cave section of Republic VI and VII. My thesis is that in the last 75 years or so scholarly opinion has reached a complete impasse, having veered from one extreme to another, rather than in the fashion of an Hegelian thesis and antithesis; this conflict of opinion desperately requires a sythesizing „third“, and in the (...) conclusion of the paper I try to supply this „third“. (shrink)

A materialist conception of spirituality is implicit in the tradition of classical Marxism, and offers a basis for greater unity between progressive "communities of faith" and secular progressives. Experience from the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua suggests that Marxists should rethink their motivations as revolutionaries and their relations to religious traditions; acknowledge the effects on the left itself of the "de-spiritualization" of life under capitalism; and give importance to spirituality as a basis of prolonged struggle for a post-capitalist future and as (...) informing a progressive agenda for morality, community, political economy, and our relationship with nature. (shrink)