Definition and the Heliotic Trope

As Derrida, among others, discusses an enduring motif in the Philosophical tradition is the heliotic trope, i. e. the use of the Sun as a metaphor in a theory, which conversely, often explicates the literal Sun, as well. For example, in Plato's Republic, the relation between the Form of the Good and Knowledge is presented as that between the Sun and the objects that it makes visible. Kant's distinction between Appearance and Thing-in-Itself suggests a distinction between the Sun that is one visible object among others, and a non-visible Sun-in-Itself that is the source of all visibility, including that of the appearing Sun. Heidegger goes further to suggest an 'Ontological Difference' between the visible object the Sun, and Visibility, the non-thing precondition of the visibility of all objects. Now, the structure of Definition shares some of the features of Plato's heliotic trope--since all meaningful words have a definition, the word 'definition' is the Sun of language. But, 'definition' is itself a word, and, it, too, has a definition, suggesting an outer-inner relation between 'definition' and the definition of 'definition'. However, rather than that relation being one between an appearance and an in-itself, it is frequently analyzed as that between a definiens and a definiendum. Furthermore, the latter relation entails a transition to a more complex expression from a less complex one, e. g. from a single word, to a group of words. So, analogously, the relation between Visibility and Sun is not one of Heideggerian Difference, but, rather, is one of process and reification, i. e. the Sun is nothing more than a process of becoming-visible. Or, as Plotinus has it, the Sun is a process of emanation, but with a modern variation--the emanation has a quantum pattern, so that the visible Sun is a quantum of emanation. Finally, as the example of neologic Definition shows, a coined term, prior to being defined, serves to discern a pattern, i. e. a unification of some manifold. Likewise, the Sun is not merely the origin of the visibility of its system, but its center of gravity, as well.