Plato and the Divided Self [Hardcover]

Investigates Plato's account of the tripartite soul, looking at how the theory evolved over the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus.Plato's account of the tripartite soul is one of his most famous and influential yet least understood theories. The authors in this book investigate how the theory evolves over the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus and how it was developed further by important Platonists such as Galen, Plutarch and Plotinus.Plato's account of the tripartite soul is one of his most famous and influential yet least understood theories. The authors in this book investigate how the theory evolves over the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus and how it was developed further by important Platonists such as Galen, Plutarch and Plotinus.Plato's account of the tripartite soul is a memorable feature of dialogues like the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus: it is one of his most famous and influential yet least understood theories. It presents human nature as both essentially multiple and diverse  and yet somehow also one  divided into a fully human 'rational' part, a lion-like 'spirited part' and an 'appetitive' part likened to a many-headed beast. How these parts interact, how exactly each shapes our agency and how they are affected by phenomena like eros and education is complicated and controversial. The essays in this book investigate how the theory evolves over the whole of Plato's work, including the Republic, Phaedrus and Timaeus, and how it was developed further by important Platonists such as Galen, Plutarch and Plotinus. They will be of interest to a wide audience in philosophy and classics.Acknowledgements and notes; Editors' introduction Rachel Barney, Tad Brennan and Charles Brittain; Part I. Transitions to Tripartition: 1. Enkrateia and the partition of the soul in the Gorgias Louis-Andr? Dorion; 2. From the Phaedo to the Republic: philosophers, non-philosophers, and the possibility of virtue Iakovos Vasiliou; 3. The soul as a one and a many: Republic 436a8439d9 l?