In Plato's Phaedrus, the conflict between the rational and non-rational parts of the soul plays a central role. While the best life, according to Plato, is the rational pursuit of philosophical contemplation, the soul can nevertheless not rid itself from its non-rational parts. In the Phaedrus, Plato presents this tension by likening the soul to a winged chariot with a charioteer and two horses. In this essay, I lean on the account of the soul in the Republic to argue that a solution to the conflict can be found by taking the wings of the chariot to symbolise inner harmony. In this way, I show that the non-rational parts of the soul are not a hindrance to the rational pursuit of philosophy, but, in fact, necessary for it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-416101 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Hjelm, Mattias |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Filosofiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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