Platos Tripartite Soul
(2) Critically evaluate Plato’s theory of the tripartite soul, in Republic.
Plato’s espousal of a tripartite conception of the ‘soul’ as displayed in The Republic, offers an interesting and valuable account of the human psyche, and for the motivational factors that can influence individual conduct. By virtue of searching for why a man should follow courses of action that are seen to be ‘just’, Plato compliments his ethical answers by establishing a psychological structure that shows that conflict predominantly occurs during our decision making as moral agents. We can also see in The Republic a progression of the soul from his earlier, more primitive account, that saw that man could only act in his best interests (even if these were subsequently flawed). Plato has developed his arguments considerably so as to take into account that there may be lower order appetites and desires that can obfuscate and subvert reason, and that this is the reason why people may error with unjust actions.
As a philosophical treatise, it is to be commended for appreciating the complexity of human motivations, however given our contemporary biological knowledge we can see that the simplified composition of the ‘soul’ espoused by Plato may be untenable. Also, by virtue of the soul being a conglomerate of three distinct forces, this raises philosophical issues regarding the soul’s immortality (that has been and is still affirmed by the author). It is helpful at this point to identify Plato’s earlier conception of the soul, in order to see how this is ennobled into its tripartite structure in The Republic. In the Protagoras, Socrates admits that men are not always guided by intellect alone, citing that ‘…when men act contrary to knowledge they are overcome by pain, or pleasure, or some of those affections which I was just now mentioning…’ . However what is of note is that Plato believes that whilst human behaviour may be influenced by factors other than reason, if one has rational
Plato’s espousal of a tripartite conception of the ‘soul’ as displayed in The Republic, offers an interesting and valuable account of the human psyche, and for the motivational factors that can influence individual conduct. By virtue of searching for why a man should follow courses of action that are seen to be ‘just’, Plato compliments his ethical answers by establishing a psychological structure that shows that conflict predominantly occurs during our decision making as moral agents. We can also see in The Republic a progression of the soul from his earlier, more primitive account, that saw that man could only act in his best interests (even if these were subsequently flawed). Plato has developed his arguments considerably so as to take into account that there may be lower order appetites and desires that can obfuscate and subvert reason, and that this is the reason why people may error with unjust actions.
As a philosophical treatise, it is to be commended for appreciating the complexity of human motivations, however given our contemporary biological knowledge we can see that the simplified composition of the ‘soul’ espoused by Plato may be untenable. Also, by virtue of the soul being a conglomerate of three distinct forces, this raises philosophical issues regarding the soul’s immortality (that has been and is still affirmed by the author). It is helpful at this point to identify Plato’s earlier conception of the soul, in order to see how this is ennobled into its tripartite structure in The Republic. In the Protagoras, Socrates admits that men are not always guided by intellect alone, citing that ‘…when men act contrary to knowledge they are overcome by pain, or pleasure, or some of those affections which I was just now mentioning…’ . However what is of note is that Plato believes that whilst human behaviour may be influenced by factors other than reason, if one has rational
Bibliography: • Plato. “The Republic” , trans H.D.P.Lee (Penguin Books, Great Britain, 1970 • Plato, “The Last Days of Socrates”. Trans. by H. Tredennick (Penguin Books, Great Britain, 1969) • Plato. “Protagoras”. Sourced from The Online Library of Liberty : http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/Plato0204/Dialogues/HTMLs/0131-01_Pt05_Protag.html#hd_lf131.1.head.017 • Lorenz, Hendrik. “The Analysis of the Soul in Plato’s Republic”. 2005. Sourced from: http://www.princeton.edu/~hlorenz/Analysis_of_Soul.pdf • Pappas, N. “Justice in the Soul” from “Plato and the Republic” (2nd edn. Routledge, 2003)