more on this theme | more from this text
Full Idea
The spirited part of the soul is desiderative of freedom, victory, power, authority, reputation, and honour.
Gist of Idea
The spirit in the soul wants freedom, power and honour
Source
Galen (The soul's dependence on the body [c.170], Kiv.2.772)
Book Ref
Galen: 'Selected Works of Galen', ed/tr. Singer,P.N. [OUP 1997], p.152
A Reaction
This is the concept of 'thumos' [spirit], taken straight from Plato's tripartite account of the soul, in 'Republic'. Note that it includes a desire for freedom (in an age of slavery).
Related Idea
Idea 6041 There is a third element to the mind - spirit - lying between reason and appetite [Plato]
| 6003 | Galen showed by experiment that the brain controls the body [Galen, by Hankinson] |
| 6030 | Each part of the soul has its virtue - pleasure for appetite, success for competition, and rectitude for reason [Galen] |
| 7453 | Galen's medicine followed the mean; each illness was balanced by opposite treatment [Galen, by Hacking] |
| 21799 | We just use the word 'faculty' when we don't know the psychological cause [Galen] |
| 23248 | Early empiricists said reason was just a useless concept introduced by philosophers [Galen, by Frede,M] |
| 23219 | Stopping the heart doesn't terminate activity; pressing the brain does that [Galen, by Cobb] |
| 23220 | The brain contains memory and reason, and is the source of sensation and decision [Galen] |
| 23268 | We execute irredeemable people, to protect ourselves, as a deterrent, and ending a bad life [Galen] |
| 23269 | Philosophy must start from clearly observed facts [Galen] |
| 23264 | Philosophers think faculties are in substances, and invent a faculty for every activity [Galen] |
| 23265 | The rational part of the soul is the desire for truth, understanding and recollection [Galen] |
| 23266 | The spirit in the soul wants freedom, power and honour [Galen] |