Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:09:37.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Enkrateia and the partition of the soul in the Gorgias

from Part I - Transitions to tripartition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

By
Louis-André Dorion
Edited by
Rachel Barney ,
Tad Brennan  and
Charles Brittain
Rachel Barney
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Tad Brennan
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Charles Brittain
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Get access

Summary

This chapter forms part of a wider research project on Xenophon's and Plato's use of the concept of enkrateia. It explores the links between enkrateia and the partition of the soul in the Republic. In the Republic and the Gorgias, the rehabilitation of enkrateia coincides not only with the partition of the soul, but also, apparently, with the recognition of the possibility of akrasia. The correlation in the Republic between partition of the soul and the possibility of akrasia is generally acknowledged, but the existence of this correlation in the Gorgias is far from a matter of consensus. Partition of the soul would explain, paradoxically, both the rehabilitation of the vocabulary of enkrateia, and the impossibility of recognizing enkrateia as a distinct force, the role of which is to control the desires.
Type
Chapter
Information
Plato and the Divided Self , pp. 33 - 52
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×