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Single Idea 6041

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 2. Psuche]

Full Idea

Is the third element of the mind a form of reason, so that there are only two elements to it, reason and appetite? There must be a third element, if spirit ('thumos') can be shown to be distinct - and you can see it in children when they are born.

Gist of Idea

There is a third element to the mind - spirit - lying between reason and appetite

Source

Plato (The Republic [c.374 BCE], 441a)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Republic', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 1993], p.152


A Reaction

This is Plato's famous tripartite doctrine of the soul, though in other dialogues he says that there is only reason and appetite. The suspicion is that he fixed the soul having three parts, to match the three parts of his republic's social structure.

Related Idea

Idea 22582 Spirit [thumos] is the capacity by which we love [Aristotle]