"When soul and body are both in the same place, nature teaches the one to serve and be subject, the other to rule and govern."
— Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)
Author
Work Title
Date
380-360 B.C.
Metaphor
"When soul and body are both in the same place, nature teaches the one to serve and be subject, the other to rule and govern."
Metaphor in Context
Look at it this way too. When soul and body are both in the same place, nature teaches the one to serve and be subject, the other to rule and govern. In this relation which do you think resembles the divine and which the mortal part? Don't you think that it is the nature of the divine to rule and direct, and that of the mortal to be subject and serve?
I do.
Then which part does the soul resemble?
Obviously, Socrates, soul resembles the divine, and body the mortal.
Now, Cebes, he said, see whether this is our conclusion from all that we have said. The soul is most like that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, and ever self-consistent and invariable, whereas body is most like that which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble, and never self-consistent. Can we adduce any conflicting argument, my dear Cebes, to show that this is not so?
(79e-80b, p. 63)
I do.
Then which part does the soul resemble?
Obviously, Socrates, soul resembles the divine, and body the mortal.
Now, Cebes, he said, see whether this is our conclusion from all that we have said. The soul is most like that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, and ever self-consistent and invariable, whereas body is most like that which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, dissoluble, and never self-consistent. Can we adduce any conflicting argument, my dear Cebes, to show that this is not so?
(79e-80b, p. 63)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Hamilton, E. and Cairns, H., Eds. The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Bollingen Series. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978.
Date of Entry
06/20/2003
Date of Review
03/20/2009
