Answer to Question #202595 in Philosophy for hamza

Question

What is the role of Reason in Plato’s ethics? Discuss this in the light of the Charioteer Analogy?

Answer 1

Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic to seek truth and draw conclusions from new or existing information.

Within the human mind or soul (psyche), reason was described by Plato as being the natural monarch which should rule over the other parts, such as spiritedness (thumos) and the passions.

Plato does not see the human soul as a sort of patchwork of emotions and concepts; this differs from the views of many philosophers of his time. Instead he views the soul as a sort of composite, in which many different elements blend together and affect each other. He uses the allegory of the charioteer to explain that love is a reflection of love of the forms, and is thus a "divine madness," a theia mania.