Capítulo de livro Revisado por pares

Body, Soul, and Tripartition in Plato’S Timaeus

2000; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/oso/9780199242269.003.0003

ISSN

0265-7651

Autores

Thomas Johansen,

Tópico(s)

Medieval and Classical Philosophy

Resumo

Abstract From the Phaedo we are familiar with the view of the body as a sort of prison for the soul. The body disrupts the proper workings of the soul, giving rise to irrationality in an essentially rational immortal soul. Embodiment is represented as a punishment for the soul. As Socrates puts it, ‘the philosopher’s soul utterly despises his body and flees from it, seeking to be alone by itself’ (65 o). If this is our only impression of Plato’s view of the relationship between the body and the soul, then reading the Timaeus may come as a surprise. For, as I aim to show, the dialogue offers a more complex and often more constructive view of the role of the body and the contribution it can make to our rationality and happiness. I hope to show that readers of Plato who ignore the Timaeus risk getting a seriously incomplete picture of his thought on soul and body. This applies particularly to our understanding of the origin of the tripartite soul and the nature of soul-body interaction, where it might be argued that the Timaeus offers the most developed account of any Platonic dialogue.

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