Plato's Phaedrus: The Myth Of The Soul
The Myth of the Soul
Plato’s Phaedrus centers around the concept of the soul and its division. Plato uses the soul to describe physiological thinking and justification of all aspects of philosophy as the most noble of all ventures because of its relationship to the soul. The first speeches are on love and how best to love. The central arguments are whether or not it is best in a Paederastic to be in a relationship with someone who does or does not love you. Initially, Socrates seemed fairly skeptical of myths. However this view changed by the end of the Phaedrus. At the end he seemed willing to employ the use of any myth as long has it has some sort of truth. His change can be justified because philosophy itself contains some sort of madness or a requirement of something other than direct reasoning. Myths are meant to describe common experiences shared by a culture, whether or not they can be backed up by fact.
In the Phaedrus, Plato’s most commonly employed myths are those in relation to the soul. Plato implies that he believed that the soul has no beginning and has no end- that it simply is. Every aspect of the soul is simply built onto the already established soul. Our souls define how we interpret new and old things and how we decide to live our lives. Our souls are composed of multiple different parts, all pertaining to past events. The different myths mentioned involving the soul help his audience to gain further access into his own …show more content…
Plato’s myths of the soul are still accessible to contemporary audiences, because we (as an audience) are still seeking answers to whether or not there is a soul. Plato explains that there are different fragments to a whole, and our other authors reassemble those fragments to justify our realities. Myths unify cultures and individuals because of their seemingly universal nature and common
Plato’s Phaedrus centers around the concept of the soul and its division. Plato uses the soul to describe physiological thinking and justification of all aspects of philosophy as the most noble of all ventures because of its relationship to the soul. The first speeches are on love and how best to love. The central arguments are whether or not it is best in a Paederastic to be in a relationship with someone who does or does not love you. Initially, Socrates seemed fairly skeptical of myths. However this view changed by the end of the Phaedrus. At the end he seemed willing to employ the use of any myth as long has it has some sort of truth. His change can be justified because philosophy itself contains some sort of madness or a requirement of something other than direct reasoning. Myths are meant to describe common experiences shared by a culture, whether or not they can be backed up by fact.
In the Phaedrus, Plato’s most commonly employed myths are those in relation to the soul. Plato implies that he believed that the soul has no beginning and has no end- that it simply is. Every aspect of the soul is simply built onto the already established soul. Our souls define how we interpret new and old things and how we decide to live our lives. Our souls are composed of multiple different parts, all pertaining to past events. The different myths mentioned involving the soul help his audience to gain further access into his own …show more content…
Plato’s myths of the soul are still accessible to contemporary audiences, because we (as an audience) are still seeking answers to whether or not there is a soul. Plato explains that there are different fragments to a whole, and our other authors reassemble those fragments to justify our realities. Myths unify cultures and individuals because of their seemingly universal nature and common