Plato's View on the Soul Flashcards
What is Plato’s overall view of the soul?
Plato posited that the soul, an immaterial part of a human, is an immortal and divine entity, separate from the body. The ultimate goal of the soul is to seek truth, knowledge, and Forms, as it is deformed by its association with the body.
What is the Tri-partite soul?
The tripartite soul theory posits that the human soul comprises three parts: reason (head), spirit (chest), and appetite (belly). Reason governs decision-making, spirit deals with emotions and motivation, and appetite relates to basic desires.
What is Idealism?
The belief that, that which is most true and real is the immaterial, ideas / concepts and thoughts.
Analogy of the Chariot
In the analogy, the charioteer (representing the rational aspect of our soul) attempts to guide the chariot towards the Realm of Forms, truth. The chariot is being pulled by two horses: a black horse and a white horse. The black horse (appetite/desire) is fighting against the guidance of the charioteer, attempting to pull them back down to earth. This represents a soul that lacks harmony - a soul that is allowing itself to be pulled away from truth (Forms) to physical desires, such as food and sex. The charioteer must guide the chariot by balancing spirit and appetite, leading towards truth and virtue. This can be described as a psychic harmony.
The Linguistic Argument
Plato believed that language has the power to reflect the true essence of reality. Plato draws a distinction between how we speak of ourselves and our body. We tend to speak of our body as something separate from us, such as ‘I have an arm.’ As we speak of our mental states such as ‘I am happy.’ It suggests there is a difference between us (the user) and our bodies (the used).
Argument From Knowledge
Plato claims we have innate knowledge that helps us make comparisons, which can only come from the world of the Forms. So our souls pre-existed our physical bodies in this world. He uses Meno’s Slave Boy and The One Over Many Argument to portray this.
One Over Many Argument
Argument to support Plato’s Theory of the Forms. Many particulars can instantiate one Form, for example a poodle, dalmatian and corgi all share the Form of dog. We recognise these particulars as similar, even if they do not appear to, due to anamnesis of the Form they share.
Meno’s Slave Boy
In Plato’s “Meno” Socrates uses a questioning technique with a young slave boy to show that knowledge is innate rather than learned. By asking the right questions, Socrates helps the boy recollect information about geometry that he had not been previously taught, and would not know.
Argument From Opposites
It seems that everything in the physical world has an opposite counterpart, big and small; light and dark. So, Plato deems The body and soul are also opposites. Since life is something, death must also be something – the moving of the soul to the World of the Forms.
Argument From Perfection
Perfect goodness and perfect circles are concepts we associate with perfect things, but we have never encountered them. Plato believes our soul, a part of us, originated from the world of forms, where perfect forms of circles and goodness exist. Thus, our soul is a part of our existence.
Perfection is Subjective Argument
Perfect goodness, is a concept with a varying nature, it is subjective and varies across different perspectives, making it impossible to achieve a singular perfect form of goodness due to its varying nature.
Perfection From Imperfection Argument
Hume posits that perfection can be understood through observing imperfect things and imagining the absence of imperfection. He argues that our reason can comprehend perfection as a concept, eliminating the need for a soul or innate explanation, thus rejecting Plato’s argument for the soul.
Fallacy of Composition
Plato makes an assumption that everything has an opposite, yet it can be argued that some things do not. For example, aging seems to have no opposite. If aging is a uni-directional process, perhaps dying is as well.
Problem of Interaction / Mind Body Problem (Plato)
How can the non-physical soul interact with the physical body. It seems illogical that something non-physical can interact with something physical. Plato does not fully explain how the body and soul interact.
