The Divided Line: Degrees of Intelligibility in Republic 509d–511e

Abstract

The image of the divided line articulates, in a few lines, the ontological and epistemic hierarchy that will sustain all of classical metaphysics. This study examines the four affections of the soul — eikasía, pístis, diánoia, nóesis — in the pedagogical context of the Republic, arguing that the division is not merely didactic but exhibits the structure of the real.