"So too when you state the next point in your argument, that those who train their bodies but neglect their souls are guilty of another action of the same sort--neglecting the part that should rule, and attending to that which should be ruled."
— Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)
Author
Work Title
Date
370-300 B.C.
Metaphor
"So too when you state the next point in your argument, that those who train their bodies but neglect their souls are guilty of another action of the same sort--neglecting the part that should rule, and attending to that which should be ruled."
Metaphor in Context
So then, Socrates, when I hear you constantly making these speeches I admire you immensely and praise you to the skies. So too when you state the next point in your argument, that those who train their bodies but neglect their souls are guilty of another action of the same sort--neglecting the part that should rule, and attending to that which should be ruled. Also when you declare that whatsoever object a man knows not how to make use of, it is better for him to refrain from making use thereof; thus, suppose a man knows not how to use his eyes or his ears or the whole of his body, it is better for such a man not to hear nor to see nor to employ his body for any other use rather than to use it in any way whatsoever.
(407e)
(407e)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Plato in Twelve Volumes, vol. 9, trans. W.R.M. Lamb (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1925). <Link to Perseus Project>
Date of Entry
09/04/2011
