Plato’s differing accounts of body and soul
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published 28/07/2008
 
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section Summary
 
 
In both the Phaedo and Republic 4, Socrates offers an account of the nature of psychological conflict in the context of a discussion about the soul. Different conceptions of the soul and body emerge from these accounts, each of which takes on a markedly different tenor. I will exposit and criticize the account presented in the Phaedo, and then, in the course of expositing the second account, turn to the similarities and differences between the two accounts. I will then argue that one should prefer the conception offered in Republic 4, for the reason that it offers a more coherent picture of the soul and a more plausible account of psychological conflict.
 
 

Table of Contents Plato’s differing accounts of body and soul Table of Contents

 
  1. Questioning the universal truth of the soul's ability to rule.
  2. Problems with Socrates's body-soul conception.
  3. Account of psychological conflict offered by Socrates.
  4. The discussion of psychological conflict.
  5. Socrates's additional partitioning of the soul into the spirited part.
 
 
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