Full Idea
Is each of us not the soul, but the chief part of the soul, by which we think and reason and act, all the other parts of soul as well as of body being mere instruments of its power?
Gist of Idea
Rather than being the whole soul, maybe I am its chief part?
Source
Plutarch (74: Reply to Colotes [c.85], §1119)
Book Reference
Plutarch: 'Moralia - vol 14', ed/tr. Einarson,B. /De Lacy P.H. [Harvard Loeb 1967], p.261
A Reaction
Socrates is associated with the idea that I am my whole soul (Idea 1650). Plutarch represents an interesting development, which may lead both to the Christian 'soul' and to the Cartesian 'ego'. I think Plutarch is right, but what is the 'soul'?
Related Idea
Idea 1650 For Socrates our soul, though hard to define, is our self [Vlastos on Socrates]