Allegory of the Charioteer

In ‘Phaedrus’, Plato, through a dialogue with the character of Socrates, uses the Chariot Allegory to explain his view of the human soul. The Chariot metaphor represents the twin nature of mankind who, unlike the gods, has a noble and ignoble element, represented by the pair of winged horses. The charioteer, whose intent is to proceed toward enlightenment, tries control the horses from going in different ways. The ‘noble’ horse, with rational or moral impulses, represent the positive part of mankind’s passionate nature.  The ‘ignoble’ horse, with irrational passions and appetites, represent the base part of mankind’s nature that is earthbound and indifferent to transcendence.

In the absence of proper disposition and early training the lustful and wild ‘ignoble’ horse pulls the chariot every which way where reason is unable to rein it in. Plato reasoned that the majority of people will never be able to be drawn by reason where intellect reigns over the emotions.  They received the wrong kind of conditioning; were influenced by the wrong kind of music; indulged in poetry and fiction that made them indifferent to truth and are satisfied with falsehoods.

Upshot: not that any state that can or should survive, but only that state which is an enlargement of the well-ordered soul: one in which reason rules and the passions are constrained. Only those states which are constituted around universal truths can produce a form of life of which we are worthy.

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