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 вЂ?…when men act contrary to knowledge they are overcome by pain, or pleasure, or some of those affections which I was just now mentioningвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ . 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 knowledge as to their best course of action, this cannot be subverted to such lower desires, as if вЂ?…knowledge were a slave, and might be dragged about anyhowвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ . Consequently Plato’s early account of the soul is largely an intellectualist faculty, purporting reason as having the power of veto when making decisions, and viewing other desires as subsidiary, for вЂ?…no emotion can ever get a person to act against what they believe is best as long as they maintain that beliefвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ . The soul that Plato espouses in The Republic consequently rejects this view, for as we will see, it underestimates the composition of the soul and how such integration of the relevant faculties can guide human conduct.

Before we can begin an exegesis of The Republic’s �soul’, an exposition of his philosophy concerning the construction of the individual and its parallel with the state must occur, in order to contextualize his view on how the psyche operates. We must acknowledge that the generation of The Republic is a treatise aimed to respond to Glaucon and Adeimantus’ query as to why the state of being just is (in itself) more preferable and rewarding than operating unjustly.

Plato begins his response to this question by appealing to a macroscopic view of human conduct вЂ" by virtue of the natural fact that human beings (in general) live communally (and we can extrapolate from this that there must be some benefit derived from doing so). Thus, given the nature of morality and вЂ?justice’ (in that it involves the interaction of humans with one another), it may be useful to approach the subject by looking at how cities and states are organized, so that we may make assertions as to the individual account of justice and ethics. As such, there is a duality of intention to The Republic, for it not only seeks to understand why being just is truly preferable, but also in establishing the necessary constituents of an вЂ?ideal’ state вЂ" that is, the general requirements that are required by a human community if it seeks to prosper together and live harmoniously.

It is necessary to point out that prior to his discussion of the individual’s вЂ?soul’ in book four of The Republic, Plato purports of an ideal state as a combination of three distinct categories вЂ" Rulers, Auxiliaries and Producers. Any sustainable state is affirmed to have вЂ?…four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, discipline and justiceвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ . Rulers will thus be those having the wisdom to rule over all, auxiliaries the courage to defend and maintain the state and discipline вЂ?…because of the harmony between all three Classes and their common agreement вЂ?about who ought to ruleвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ . Plato at this stage qualifies the societal account of justice, being вЂ?…the principle which has in face been followed through-out, the principle of one man one job, of вЂ?minding one’s own business’, in the sense of doing the job for which one is naturally suited fitted and not interfering with other peopleвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ , arguing that this can only be a preliminary understanding as to the true nature of justice, as this will require a reflection in the individual conception of justice in order to be an adequate account at all.

With Plato’s tripartite understanding as to the construction of the city state, we can move to see how analogous he purports it to be in the individual, for in the same way that a city requires three fundamentally distinct characteristics for its harmonious operation, likewise within the individual three psychological agencies are in operation, and it is these that combine to form the human �soul’.

Plato begins his investigation using his interlocutor Socrates to argue that it вЂ?…is difficult to see whether we perform all our functions with the same part of us, or each with a different partвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ . He establishes what can arguably be known as an embryonic form of the Aristotelian law of non-contradiction, in that вЂ?…one and the same thing cannot act or be affected in opposite ways at the same time in the same part of it and relation to the same objectвЂ¦Ð²Ð‚™ . What Socrates wishes to show is that if there are two conflicting sources of motivation towards a particular object, then they cannot derived from a single psychological source and so вЂ?…we