Exotic Journeys: A Tourist's Guide to Philosophy

brought to you by Ron Yezzi

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy

Minnesota State University, Mankato

© Copyright 1986, 2000, 2015, 2020 by Ron Yezzi

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Topics

Plato

Agencies of Action within Human Nature

Human Nature and Virtues

Freud

Agencies of Action within The Psyche

The Psyche: Ethical Implications

Plato and Freud: A Comparison

Controversies: Some Objections and Possible Replies

Thought Excursions

Plato, Freud, and Political Leadership

Sources

Author's Note: This account is an adaptation from Ron Yezzi, Directing Human Actions: Perspectives on Basic Ethical Issues (Lanham: University Press of America, 1986), pp. 92 - 103.

Human Nature:

Plato and Freud

Both Plato and Sigmund Freud have accounts of human nature; they describe three agencies of action within the psyche, which can be taken to mean "mind" or "soul." But they differ on what some of these agencies are, on the relative influence of some of the agencies, and on the moral precepts to be derived. Plato's is the much older position, of course―not dependent upon, or taking account of, the somewhat controversial psychoanalytic techniques developed by Freud in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Plato