The greatest human challenge is to try and understand oneself. To understand oneself is to understand why we have feelings, how we interact within ourselves, what is actually occurring in our internal psychological conflicts, and if our thoughts are rational in comparison to our feelings. An internal psychological conflict can come down to just the simple decision between what is right and what is wrong. The ancients describe this as “what I think is best” versus “what I really want and desire to do right now”. This has long been the topic of study and debate, but has never been quite understood, for there are many different theories on our interaction with our thought to emotion. As we experience certain feelings and emotions, we try to understand why this happens, yet we often turn to the philosophers of early times. Always pondering the concepts of reasoning, emotions, and desires within themselves, rather than the scientific viewpoint we look at today, philosophers formed a variety of theories on how the relation comes about. In particular, Aristotle, Plato, and the Stoics had very knowledgeable and profound theories, yet each one of their viewpoints was very different from each other. On one side, Aristotle’s and Plato’s versions, present a multi-parted view of the soul. They argue that reason should control desire, and in some arguments, control passion. The Stoics, however, present a holistic view, or the idea that the human soul is rational and not divided. After studying both theories, a multi-parted view of the soul presents the most rational explanation for the internal psychological conflict we experience daily.
Plato best describes his view on reason and emotions in Republic: Book 9. Plato, agreeing on a ...
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Aristotle’s psychological types, as described in “Nichomachean Ethics,” are a categorization of different internal moral characters. These categories are a comprehensive attempt - for ancient philosophy - at identifying which internal psychologies manifest virtuous or morally bad behaviour. His moral categories are somewhat obsolete in a post-modern world, where science and politics are far more developed than in Ancient Greece. However, moral psychological ethics and normative debate still holds a relevant position in the moral undercurrent of society – it is dispersed through legal, political, military and medical activity, in relationships and familial function. It is for this reason, that Immanuel Kant examined a similar issue in “Pure Practical Reason and the Moral Law,” and that it still makes for interesting philosophical discussion.
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The rational part of the ruler is wise and therefore it should rule over the other parts of the mind. Socrates questions, “…isn’t it appropriate for the rational part to rule, since it is really wise and exercises foresight on behalf of the whole soul…(Plato 98).” In th...
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The identification of the soul parts as the contributors and main elements for the function of the most important human activity (reasoning), marks the inevitable psychological asset of Aristotle’s thinking; specifically, the classification of human virtues derives from the analysis of the soul’s types, attributing to human beings the ability of reasoning which distinguishes human beings from the rest of ‘natural bodies.’ Indeed, reason exists in two parts of the soul, namely the rational and the appetitive (desires or passions), and so it expresses within two different virtues, the moral and intellectual ones. Moral virtues satisfy the impulses of the appetitive part and the intellectual virtues hav...
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The pursuit for happiness has been a quest for man throughout the ages. In his ethics, Aristotle argues that happiness is the only thing that the rational man desires for its own sake, thus, making it good and natural. Although he lists three types of life for man, enjoyment, statesman, and contemplative, it is the philosopher whom is happiest of all due to his understanding and appreciation of reason. Aristotle’s version of happiness is not perceived to include wealth, honor, or trivial