Single Idea 23997

[catalogued under 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / g. Controlling emotions]

Full Idea

Plato had a conception of the emotions and our bodily appetites as being like wild horses, to be harnassed and controlled by reason.

Gist of Idea

Plato saw emotions and appetites as wild horses, in need of taming

Source

report of Plato (Phaedrus [c.368 BCE]) by Peter Goldie - The Emotions 4 'Education'

Book Reference

Goldie,Peter: 'The Emotions' [OUP 2002], p.113


A Reaction

This seems to make Plato the patriarch of puritanism. See Symposium, as well as Phaedrus. But bringing up children can often seem like taming wild beasts.