The Problematic Third Speech of the Phaedrus and Ficino’s Neoplatonic Reinterpretation

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

7 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

04/24/2007

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Humanities/philosophy

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Summary :

Introduction
The situating of the entire work in a numinous pastoral setting
Describing a focus on the transcendent
1. When intimacy is established
2. Love based purely on physical attraction or lust
3. A blatant sensualism
The description of how a soul ascends into the heavens
The inability of language to express this pure, divine knowledge
Solving the problem of the opposites
Ficino's attempts to transpose into Platonic metaphysics
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

There has been much scholarly debate concerning the relative merit of the three speeches in Plato's phaedrus; the third speech, in particular, is much contested. While the first two speeches are undeniably mired in self-contradiction and materialism, the third speech, though mythical in content and focusing on the power of the soul, arguably still commits the error of entrapping the soul in empirical concerns. Despite, or perhaps because of, this failing, the allegory of the charioteer had an immense impact on the 15th-century Italian scholar Marsilio ficino. His neoplatonic reinterpretation of the myth, which evolved over the course of his life, was plagued by the ontological confusion of Plato's original; ultimately, however, ficino was able to reconcile the relationship of body, mind and soul through a Christian application of the concepts of will from St. Augustine and charity from St. Paul.