Happiness In Euthydemus, The Symposium And The Republic
“Justice and peace can only thrive together, never apart” Oscar Arias Sanchez
Plato’s writings on happiness are seen as a representation of Socrate’s view since Plato was his student, and presents his writings on happiness in three dialogues, namely Euthydemus, The Symposium and The Republic. As to necessary conditions for happiness in the Euthydemus, he argues first that happiness is what everybody desires; it is the end or goal of all our activities, unconditional good; secondly, he says that happiness does not depend on external things but rather how those things are used. For instance, one cannot claim that money brings happiness, but rather how money is used is what determines happiness. An ignorant person will waste away the money and end up worse than before, but a wise person will use the money well for his own good, and the same applies to external things, such as looks or even …show more content…
He divided the soul into these three parts based on the different classes he has seen in the society. He noted that people were mostly motivated by wants, needs and desires in the society. For instance, a person could thirst for water and that represents the first part of the brain that is appetitive. The rational or rather the logical part of the soul is the one that seeks the truth and seeks to learn from it. It separates the truth from false and makes just decisions based on the truth. Spirited is the part of the body where we get our emotions that are temper or anger. This part aligns with the logical part to resist the desires of appetite. In unjust people it aligns with appetitive to fulfill the desires of the body. The appetitive part of the soul is where we experience the feelings of carnal desire, hunger, thirst and other desires that are against the logical part. Plato associates this part with human reproduction and the love for money (Smith,
Plato’s writings on happiness are seen as a representation of Socrate’s view since Plato was his student, and presents his writings on happiness in three dialogues, namely Euthydemus, The Symposium and The Republic. As to necessary conditions for happiness in the Euthydemus, he argues first that happiness is what everybody desires; it is the end or goal of all our activities, unconditional good; secondly, he says that happiness does not depend on external things but rather how those things are used. For instance, one cannot claim that money brings happiness, but rather how money is used is what determines happiness. An ignorant person will waste away the money and end up worse than before, but a wise person will use the money well for his own good, and the same applies to external things, such as looks or even …show more content…
He divided the soul into these three parts based on the different classes he has seen in the society. He noted that people were mostly motivated by wants, needs and desires in the society. For instance, a person could thirst for water and that represents the first part of the brain that is appetitive. The rational or rather the logical part of the soul is the one that seeks the truth and seeks to learn from it. It separates the truth from false and makes just decisions based on the truth. Spirited is the part of the body where we get our emotions that are temper or anger. This part aligns with the logical part to resist the desires of appetite. In unjust people it aligns with appetitive to fulfill the desires of the body. The appetitive part of the soul is where we experience the feelings of carnal desire, hunger, thirst and other desires that are against the logical part. Plato associates this part with human reproduction and the love for money (Smith,