Sibley, Joseph;
(2024)
Choice and Character in the Republic's Myth of Er.
Masters thesis (M.Phil.Stud), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
In this thesis I present an allegorical reading of the Myth of Er, a reading which takes the Myth to function as a representation for choice in an agent’s own life. In particular, I argue that the soul’s choice of a life in the Myth represents an agent’s choice of character. This thesis, then, offers an explication of an agent’s choice of character which is informed by the Myth’s representation of it. I argue that the Myth suggests that an agent’s character is structured by their values, and that the choice of character is made through the endorsement or rejection of certain values. Yet, I further argue that the Myth should be taken to suggest that this endorsement or rejection occurs on myriad occasions throughout an agent’s own life, most prominently when an agent is faced with a choice of how to act on a particular occasion. I further argue that not only does an agent choose their character on these occasions, but also that their character is formed through these choices insofar as they, and the actions which typically result from them, affect the agent’s soul. This reading of the Myth allows us to see it as a sophisticated and plausible philosophical analysis of the relationship between choice, value, and character. Yet this thesis also pays due attention to the Myth’s role as a protreptic, exhorting its reader to turn to a life of justice, and thus to choose to endorse the value of justice, an endorsement that typically occurs when one chooses to perform just acts. Thus read, the Myth can be seen to occupy a natural place at the end of the Republic, as a fitting final word for Plato’s most systematic defence of justice and the just life.
| Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | M.Phil.Stud |
| Title: | Choice and Character in the Republic's Myth of Er |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10198852 |
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