PHIL10003 Lecture 3: plato's tripartite soul
15 Jun 2018
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Lecture 3: Plato's tripartite soul
Context
• Justice both from the good things that it comes from and its own value
• Being just is its own reward, justice is valuable for its own sake, justice is its own reward
• Socrates has to argue that Being just is intrinsically valuable
City-soul analogy
• If you can find justice in city and in souls, only in one form
Justice in the City
• Not meddling
• Different classes: ruling, military, working class
• Justice is watch of these classing doing their own work and not meddling w the other
classes -> you end up w a city that is v harmonious -> city flourishes when the whole city
does their own work well
Plato's assertion
1. The emotions (spirited) and appetite is capable of motivating humans to action
• Contradicts intellectualism -> socrates and plato disagree, socrates might just be a
mouthpiece for plato to make his argument
• Virtue must come in more forms than wisdom if (1) is true -> plato disagree w socratic
idea that wisdom is virtue -> they disagree about human psychology
• Wisdom is the virtue of the rational part of the soul
• Courage is the virtue of the spirited part of the soul
• Temperance is the virtue of the appetitive part of the soul
• Justice is the lingering cardinal virtue -> it is each part doing its own work -> a soul is just if
so
• Rational role -> take care of the soul -> ruler's
o Spirit -> protect soul from internal threat -> enforces the law of reason
• Appetite -> take care of bodily integrity
The soul is made of three distinct parts
• Principle of opposites: the same thing will not be willing to oppose itself in relation to the
same part at the same time.
o Man standing still but moving arms -> man standing still in his position but moving
his arms -> different part of man is moving and standing still -> proving that his
principle is correct
• IF THE SOUL IS DOING OPPOSITES, IT IS MADE OF MORE THAN ONE PART
• Principle of relations: you cannot have one of the relations w/o it being related to
something
o A particular knowledge is made in relation to a particular objects known
o Thirst -> drink, thirst for cold drink -> cold drink
o Unqualified thirst -> unqualified drinK
ARGUMENT FOR TRIPARTITE SOUL
• Principle of opposites
• If we can find the soul doing or undergoing opposites, then the soul must have more than
one part
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