Dialectical Epimeleia: Platonic Care of the Soul and Philosophical Cognition

Plato Journal 17:85-99 (2017)
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Abstract

In this paper I argue that Plato’s notion of the care of the self is his remedy to the psychological malady he refers to as ‘wandering’. The wandering self requires care, and a close reading of the Platonic corpus indicates self-cultivation means stabilizing the soul in accordance with its intelligent nature. I then argue that Plato appropriates the ethical injunction to care for the soul and draws from it an important epistemological consequence. Specifically, his view is that a wandering soul’s instability renders it incapable of philosophical cognition. To engender a healthy soul, one must participate in dialectic.

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References found in this work

What is ancient philosophy?Pierre Hadot - 2002 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
The socratic elenchus.Gregory Vlastos - 1982 - Journal of Philosophy 79 (11):711-714.
Plato's progress.Gilbert Ryle - 1966 - Cambridge,: Cambridge University Press.
The Socratic Elenchus.Gregory Vlastos - 1999 - In Gail Fine (ed.), Plato 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology. Oxford University Press.
The Ideal of Godlikeness.David Sedley - 1999 - In Gail Fine (ed.), Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul. Oxford University Press. pp. 309-328.

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