Plato's Concept of the Self

play this concept of the self can be gleaned from his notion of the soul this is because and it must be noted from the outset we cannot find in plato a full articulation of the concept of the self in fact in ancient greek philosophy we could not find any systematic articulation of the concept of the self what we can find when we study the ancient greeks conception of the self are questions like what is the fundamental truth about human nature or what defines the fundamental identity of an individual these questions however give us an idea of how the ancient greek philosophers understand the self that is as human persons capable of reason and action and if one is quite familiar with ancient greek philosophy these aspects of the human person that is the capacity to think and act point to the idea of the soul again this explains why we always refer to the soul when we study plato's concept of the self as a matter of fact in many of his dialogues plato contends that the true self of the human person is the rational soul that is the reason or the intellect that constitutes the person's soul and which is separable from the body so how does play to conceive of the soul as the true self of humans well plato conceives of the self as a knower hence for plato the concepts of the self and knowledge are inextricably linked this is because plato's concept of the self is practically constructed on the basis of his reflections on the nature of the rational soul as the highest form of cognition but it must be noted that for plato the human person is composed of body and soul in other words the human person is a dichotomy of body and soul the body is the material and destructible part of the human person while the soul is the immaterial and indestructible part plato argues that the soul is really an entity distinct from the body indeed for plato the soul is the self as we can see the body and the soul can be separated in fact plato believes that the soul is just residing in the body temporarily thus in plato's concept of the self we have the idea that when the human person dies the soul departs from the body leaving the latter to decompose and because the soul is immaterial and indestructible it cannot die it is eternal according to plato the soul conceived of a self has three parts namely the rational soul the spiritual soul and the repetitive soul according to plato the rational soul is located in the head being located in the head the rational soul enables the human person to think reflect analyze and do other cognitive functions the spiritual soul on the other hand is located in the chest it enables the person to experience happiness joy sadness abomination anger and other emotional feelings lastly the appetitive soul is located in the abdomen this is the part of the soul that drives the human person to experience physical pain hunger thirst and other physical ones now according to plato the rational soul is superior to the spiritual soul and a petitive soul as it serves as their moral and rational guide in the allegory of the chariot which plato developed in his work figerus plato illustrated the role of the rational soul as the charioteer the charioteer's role is to drive his horses onward and upward keeping his team working together in harmony towards the realm of gods a place of illumination reality and truth as narrated in ephedras the chariot is pulled by two winged horses one mortal and the other immortal on the one hand the mortal horse is deformed and obstinate plato describes it as a crooked lumbering animal of a dark color with gray eyes and blood red complexion the mate of insolence and pride shag-eared in death hardly yielding to whip and spur on the other hand the immortal horse is noble and game upright and cleanly made his collar is white and his eyes dark he is a lover of honor and modesty and temperance and the follower of true glory he needs no touch of the whip but is guided by word and admonition only in the driver's seat is the charioteer whose task is to control both horses guiding and harnessing them to propel the chariot with speed and efficiency plato says that the destination of the charioteer is the ridge of heaven beyond which he may behold the forms that is the essences of things like beauty wisdom courage justice and goodness now the white horse wishes to rise and reach the destination but the dark horse pulls the chariot back towards the earth they pull in opposite directions as we can see the two horses are very different and they struggled against each other for this reason the task of the charioteer is difficult and troublesome but if the charioteer wishes to reach his destination then he must harmonize the two horses by controlling them in relation to the self plato shows that the black and white horses represent desire and spirit respectively while the charioteer represents the person's reason or the rational soul and as the rational soul the charioteer must have a vision and purpose he must know where he is heading and he must know and understand the nature of the two horses if he wishes to properly harness the chariot and reach his destination the rational soul as the true self therefore must at all times control the spiritual and repetitive soul and according to plato if the rational soul is successful in controlling the spiritual and repetitive souls that is if the charioteer is able to harmonize the two horses a well-balanced personality is attained indeed this is in a nutshell how plato views the true self you

Channel: PHILO-notes

Views: 73,217

Keywords: Plato's Philosophy, Understanding the Self, Understanding the Self Plato, Plato Understanding the Self, Philosophical Perspective of the Self Plato, Plato Philosophical Perspective of the Self, Plato's Concept of the Self, Plato's Idea of the Self, Plato's Philosophy of the Self, Plato Philosophy of the Self, Plato Concept of the Self, Plato Idea of the Self, Plato Philosophy About the Self, Philosophy About the Self Plato, Concept of the Self Plato, Idea of the Self Plato

Id: bge5EUL89BE

Length: 8min 41sec (521 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 22 2020