Single Idea 1737

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind]

Full Idea

There seem in a way to be an infinity of parts of the soul, and not only those that some have given, distinguishing the reasoning, spirited and desiderative parts, or with others the rational and irrational.

Clarification

'Desiderative' means 'concerning desire'. 'Soul' is the Greek word 'psuché', which covers mind and consciousness and life

Gist of Idea

The soul seems to have an infinity of parts

Source

comment on Plato (The Republic [c.371 BCE], 439b) by Aristotle - De Anima 432a25

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'De Anima (On the Soul)', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,H.C. [Penguin 1986], p.212


A Reaction

This seems a nice response to Plato's proposal that the psuché has two or three parts. He could have said that the soul was a unity, and has no parts, but the proposal of infinite parts seems much closer to the modern neurological view of the mind.