Erotic Modes of Discourse: The Union of Mythos and Dialectic in Plato’s Phaedrus

Abstract

Plato, I believe, would consider the modern curriculum to be the product of unnatural divorces between poetry and philosophy, mythos and dialectic, and oral and written expression. Unwilling to give up any curricular part of the soul’s instruction, Plato would teach them all. He does so in the Phaedrus, for example. The Phaedrus contains a variety of themes — love, the soul, the beautiful, dialectic, poetic inspiration, virtue and knowledge — yet Plato finds unity in them all, for each is fundamentally erotic. Moreover the dialogue contains a variety of structures — dialectic certainly, but also formal and informal rhetoric, myth and narrative — each displaying its own touch of light irony. Through the wit of his ironic style, and the erotic drive fundamental to his thematic topoi, Plato achieves coherence in his dialogue and union between the disciplines of poetry, philosophy, rhetoric, and dialectic. The clearest way to see this union is through the means Plato himself chooses, through dialogue employing mythic images; here lies a partnership structurally reflective of what it portrays. Mythos and dialectic wed are like the metaphorical horses in Plato’s image of the soul’s chariot.