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Plato's Phaedrus Summary

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Plato discussed the soul in detail in his book Phaedrus. General ideas of the soul were discussed along with a metaphor to fully describe what the soul is, tying in his concept of the realm of the forms. Plato believed that the self was just the soul. He saw the soul as a separate entity from the body and even thought that the human body was bad. Since souls are separate from the body, they are eternal, never can be created nor destroyed. “Every soul is immortal. That’s because whatever is always in motion is immortal, while what moves, and is moved by, something else stops living when it stops moving” (Plato, 1995, p.29). He also believed that souls were the source of movement for humans. Souls can be compared to God because god is a source …show more content…
“Let us then liken the soul to the natural union of a team of winged horses and their charioteer” (Plato, 1995, p.31). The chariot in his metaphor represents reason. This is how a soul makes its decisions. It is controlled by the horses, one good and one bad. The good horse of the metaphor is what describes divine desires, like desire of true beauty. According to Plato, reality has duel aspects, material reality and true reality. Material reality is what can be perceived through our senses and are earthly objects. True reality is ideal and perfect reality that is timeless. The good horse in the metaphor is drawn to true reality and can be commanded by words alone. The bad horse however, desires earthly beauty, material desires, physical love, and pleasure. The bad horse must be beaten to help it understand reason and comply. These two drives, divine and earthly, rather than being balanced, are in constant conflict with one another. The drives of the good horse and the bad horse can also be seen as the division of the id and the superego of the soul. The id responds to pleasure and there is no consideration for the effects much like the bad horse. The superego alternatively, acts as the self-critical conscience just as the good horse does. The other part of the metaphor is the wings. The wings symbolize being lifted up towards the divine. “By their nature, wings have the power

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