Veil

Use in the book

The instruction for translating Plato gives his subtle ideas a loose veil, drapery, cloud, or vapor; tight clothing makes them misshapen. Another fragment requires a veil rather than a wall between an unnamed him and us. It states a contrast of barriers without naming the party separated. In the conditional definition of philosophical doubt, veiling corrects extinguishing as the response to dazzling light. Another organ of judgment is wanted, but remains unspecified. These distinctions keep partial mediation separate from complete exclusion.

Places to read

1. I, p. 153, entry 4, ¶1A loose covering suits the subtle body of Plato’s ideas.
2. I, p. 246, entry 1, ¶2A veil is required instead of a wall, with the pronoun unexpanded.
3. II, p. 655, entry 8, ¶1Veiling corrects extinguishing within a qualified account of doubt.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains the images and the explicit self-correction “or rather.” The doubt itself is qualified by “if it existed”; the statement is not turned into an unconditional recommendation. The noun voile can elsewhere mean sail, so that distinct material use is not evidence for every claim made here.