Plato's Phaedrus: post-class review

A two-horse chariot on a prize amphora, created & painted by Exekias ~530 BCE

I was completely geared up for a deep academic analysis of the text, and instead, or rather also, we applied the text to real world concepts. We learned of the reliance on this and other of Plato's texts by advocates of the modern organised pedophilia movement (and I learned that there is such an organisation). We discussed in depth the role of mentor vs. student, both now and in Plato's time, and spoke about the differences between romantic love, friendship and marriage in ancient Greece.

 

This was the question that I proposed for class discussion:

What do you make of the mythical elements that Socrates details on the way to the tree (229 c5-e4).  Does linking fantasy and nature prepare the reader for what follows?  How does this initial supernatural anecdote differ from the supernatural/divine elements present in Socrates’ impassioned lecture as he later examines the links between madness, earthly love, philosophy and religion?  What does this say about Plato’s understanding of the difference between love, passion, faith, and reason?

... and this is a discussion question posed by someone else in the class:

 

"such is the state of the soul of the man who is beginning to sprout wings - it throbs and aches and tickles as it grows its feathers" page 32. What types of things, if any, give us this feeling or sensation? Do we make time for these things or is this situation foreign to us? Life can be so busy at times: have to work to pay bills, have to go to school to get more pay for more work, have to do this and that all the time. Who has time to sprout wings and fly when we're trying first not to drown?

 

What a surprise!  You can see the difference between the academic, specifically text-directed approach that I was expecting, versus the larger picture that the class will bring into the discussion

 

As for the text, the focus of much of the discussion was on the chariot metaphor.   Essentially, Socrates puts forth a pre-Freudian idea that one's essence (I suppose we can call it one's soul) is like a charioteer restraining two horses, one white, one dark.   The charioteer represents reason (ego), the white horse represents virtuous character (super-ego), and the dark horse represents passion (id).   The goal of the charioteer is to reign in the dark horse, and encourage the white horse until they guide him into enlightenment and he rides with the gods.

 

I completely glazed over this section in my first reading of the text, so I was really appreciative of the attention it received in class.  Again, I am amazed at the constancy of ideas over the millennium: specifically this magic trinity of  intention, character and passion working together as our understanding of what it means to be human.

 

Works Cited:

Plato. Phaedrus. Trans. Christopher Rowe. New York: Penguin Classics, 2005. Print.