AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF ASTERIOS STAMATIKOS, for the Master of Philosophy degree in Philosophy, presented on October 14, 2014, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. "FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT: ΘΎΜΟϚ IN THE REPUBLIC" MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Thomas Alexander This paper shows that the spirted part of the soul should be ranked above the appetitive part of the soul, according to the standards Plato set forth in The Republic. Plato exalted the rational part of the soul, but he likened the spirited part of the soul to the rational part in various ways. The moral goodness of the spirited part of the soul can be shown through the ways it is similar to the rational part. These ways include the similarities between the regimes based on the rational and spirited part of the soul, as well as the characteristics of the spirited part of the soul, which make it auxiliary to the rational part of the soul. The spirited part of the soul fights against injustice within the soul, allying itself with the rational part against the desirous part; spiritedness also rises up when it perceives evil external to the soul. The way in which Plato exalted the rational part of the soul allows for an argument like this to be made. One way he shows the superiority of the rational part of the soul is by condemning the other two parts. Plato praised the spirited part of the soul for the most part though, and some of the characteristics he attributed to the spiritedness were in accord with the virtues and social order of classical Athens.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:siu.edu/oai:opensiuc.lib.siu.edu:theses-2673 |
| Date | 01 May 2015 |
| Creators | Stamatikos, Asterios |
| Publisher | OpenSIUC |
| Source Sets | Southern Illinois University Carbondale |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds