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The Republic, By Plato

1330 Words6 Pages

If placed against each other in a poll, rationality would reign victorious over enthusiasm and desire in today’s modern world. In Plato's book, The Republic, Plato discusses his theory of the tripartite soul made up of three parts: reason, spirit, and desire. Throughout books four and five, Plato emphasizes the intelligent and sophisticated nature of reason. He does this by examining real-world counterexamples, such as a man’s deliberation in satisfying his thirst. As Plato highlights the breadth of reason, including the possession of decision-making, formulating opinions, and having insight, he simultaneously emphasizes reason’s dependency on spirit- saying that spirit provides a motive for the soul to carry out decisions made by the rational part. In addition, Plato defines the appetitive and rational parts of the soul very easily, as the spirited realm is not defined until human will, honor, and indignation is questioned to where they belong. While Plato places rationality on a higher tier than spirit or desire, I pose the question, would rationality alone grant an individual survival in the real world? I argue that the reasoning and desiring …show more content…

While discussing the relationship of spirit and reason, Plato says that reason will carry out its part, while spirit provides reason with "the courage to carry its decision into effect" (151). Reason's codependency on spirit highlights its need for spirit's courage, more than just indignation, and it's effect. Plato thus far has identified that spirit is the realm, which expresses anger, but also motivation, courage, and, like the auxiliaries, love and pride. Based on Plato's insight on reason, reason would not be able to apply its decision-making or rational skills to the physical world, as the lack of motive, desire, or will too, would make it irrational to apply such

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The phrase "tyranny of the majority" was first used by John Adams in 1788. The phrase gained notice after its appearance in 1835 in Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville, "tyranny of the majority/masses" mean? It it when the majority places their power over a single person or group, and is most often used in the topic of democracy. The Founding Fathers of the United States gave significant attention and concern about the probability of a tyranny led by a majority, and tried prevent it 's possibility, such as, establishing a system of checks and balances that kept the government from gaining too much power in a short amount of time. Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political thinker and historian gave attention and wrote about the

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Reason is the part that guides the other parts of the soul, it analysis and rationalizes options, and determines the best overall choice. Spirit is the part that is passionate and strives to conquer challenges, while appetite is the part that desires pleasures and comforts. Plato states that all three parts are balanced properly when reason the one in charge, but when poorly balanced, virtue is lost and vices begin to form. Ignorance is a vice. In Philabus, Plato states that when harmony of the soul is disrupted, one becomes self-ignorant, and can acquire a false sense of beauty, wealth, and virtue.

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According to the principles of Ayn Rand’s objectivism, man must decide what is best for himself based on reason. This often plays a major role in the survival of that organism, as some decisions, if incorrect in the circumstance, can result in death. Frequently, the deciding factor in such circumstances is reason. Equality 7-2521 uses reasoning while traversing the Uncharted Forest outside of the City after he has decided to leave his old life behind. In the City, he did not have to care for himself nor provide himself with basic necessities, such as food and water.

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405 Words | 2 Pages

Plato breaks the justification of knowledge down into two types of realms that show what can be known by reason and what can be known by the five senses. These realms, then divided into two other unequal parts based on their clarity and truthfulness, make up what is known as The Divided Line. By understanding The Divided Line we can fully grasp the differences between the perceptual, also known as becoming, realm and the conceptual, also known as being, realm. The perceptual realm is the opinions and beliefs of people or it can be known as the visible realm.

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1524 Words | 7 Pages

Loss of rationality exists because the man has already glorified himself by submitting to the idea that this earth, as opposed to heaven, is his only home and he desires to be known by others. People forget that their true treasure lies in heaven and that anything accomplished on the earth is fruitless. Philosophy effectively agrees with the idea of fruitlessness by questioning why men think that fame can lengthen life by “mortal famousness” (dCP2pr7).   Expanding upon the trappings of fame, Philosophy declares that “if the mind stays conscious when it is freed from the earthly prison and seeks out heaven in freedom, surely it will despise every earthly affair” (dCP2m7). She begs her readers to understand that they are worth so much more in God’s eyes and that they do not have to waste their lives pursuing hollow fame.

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Our rationality and reason give us the ability to distinguish between good and bad, just and unjust, and to assess whether or not we are good people. It also gives us the capability to understand and perform higher intellectual activities. The three alternatives can also be said to be split into 2 categories, the rational part of the soul and the non-rational part of the soul. The life of growth and perception falls

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1177 Words | 5 Pages

Plato an ancient Greek philosopher, whose philosophical work influenced the founding of western thought. Born in 427 B.C in the town of Athens, during the time of the Peloponnesian War Plato witness the collapse of Athenian democracy and emergence of an Oligarchy, establish by the Spartan. The repressive system of government was known as the “the thirty” the thirty were elected officials who managed all of Athens affairs. However, the end result of the thirty was repressive governing for the Athenian people who were accustom to democracy. This was one major event, that had a profound impact on Plato life, due to the unjust ruling placed upon the Athenian people, by 403 B.C democracy was restored once again and Plato had an interest in politics,

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1412 Words | 6 Pages

The appetites is explicated to be the human’s desires for various pleasures, comforts, physical satisfaction, and bodily ease. There are many other appetites that Plato does not mention. The spirited part of the human is explained to be the part of the soul that feels emotions when events occur during the individual’s life.

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1470 Words | 6 Pages

One of the potentially faulty arguments Socrates uses to ponder Thrasymachus’ definition of justice involves considering injustice within a single person. In other words, this means thinking about conflict within an individual’s “soul”. In his treatment of Thrasymachus’ position that

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He also questions whether we act with the whole soul or with different parts when it comes to different situations. There is an argument made for two parts of the soul, the appetitive part and the rational part, but then Socrates shows

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1385 Words | 6 Pages

aligns with reason and resists the desires of the appetite. It is in this part of the soul where the courage to be good is found. In the unjust soul, the spirit ignores reason and instead aligns with the appetitive desires, manifesting as the demand for the pleasures of the body. Plato asserts that the wise and just soul allows reason to govern the other parts, while the unwise and unjust soul allows conflict between the parts.12 Just as there is the appetitive part of the soul—the largest part of the soul—there is the productive class, or the workers, who have souls of bronze and account for the largest part of the population.13 This class includes the general population of laborers, plumbers, masons, carpenters, merchants, and farmers.

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

Socrates in the dialogue Alcibiades written by Plato provides an argument as to why the self is the soul rather than the body. In this dialogue Alcibiades and Socrates get into a discussion on how to cultivate the self which they both mutually agree is the soul, and how to make the soul better by properly taking care of it. One way Socrates describes the relationship between the soul and the body is by analogy of user and instrument, the former being the entity which has the power to affect the latter. In this paper I will explain Socrates’ arguments on why the self is the soul and I will comment on what it means to cultivate it.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

A quote from document 2 states “...human reason is the most godlike part of human nature…” This is still relevant in the world today because it teaches people to think before they act. Also, Aristotle stressed the

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467 Words | 2 Pages

For instance, I may want to eat a piece of cake, but the rational part of my psyche stops me from eating the cake because I do not want to gain weight. In other words, I like to think of the rational part of the soul as the frontal lobe of the brain—if the person is healthy and in balance, then the frontal lobe regulates decision-making. This is analogous to the controlling role of the rational part of the psyche. Socrates suggests that the rational part of the soul can convince, if the parts of a person’s soul are balanced, the other sections to behave a certain way. Although rational normally governs a being, this part can be in conflict—like in the example of wanting to eat the

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Lizeth Tinoco Professor Stephanie Arms English 101 22 February 2018 Benefits of Being Rational Although arrogance gets in the way of rationality, our understandings of different matters of the world shape us into believing what to be is true and what is not true. To be rational means that one is able to think logically or critically with reason. A critical thinker is not someone who expresses just the first thought that comes into mind, they have to think more than two times to be rational and express something that is important. Being rational is being able to weigh options to make the best decisions, like in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” when the prisoner returns to the cave, he learns that the reality is outside the cave and what he’s

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