Tripartite of the Psyche The author Plato’s central focus in “The Republic” is to answer the question—what makes a person just? To tackle this inquiry, Plato’s character Socrates, from pages 136 to 138 goes into detail, arguing why there must be the three parts to an individual’s soul. In this portion of the text, Socrates argues that a just person—an individual’s soul that has harmony between the three areas of the psyche—rational, appetite, and spirited; therefore, the person exhibits wisdom, courage, and moderation. Ultimately in this section of “The Republic” Plato, through Socrates, Rather, argues that a person’s being is considered just if the soul’s sections are working in harmony. Plato begins this section of “The Republic”
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The spirited part of the psyche has the job to crush the person’s appetite; consequently, Socrates puts the spirited sector under reason. In other words, the main purpose for the spirited section is to implement the wishes of the rational sector; fundamentally, the rational and spirited sections of the soul work together to keep the appetite portion of the psyche in check. To support his argument that the spirited sector of the soul does not align with the appetite part, Socrates uses the story of “Leontius, son of Aglaoin” as an example (137). Socrates narrates how Leontius sauntered by a pile of corpses and “had an appetite to look at them” (137). But his reason and spirit told him he should be “disgusted” so he “turned away” (137). Leontius has an internal struggle in his psyche between his appetite and reason—should he look or should he not—but, he ultimately gives into his desires and scolds himself by exclaiming, “Look for yourselves, you evil wretches, take your fill of the beautiful sight!” (137). The reader can observe how angry Leontius becomes at himself. Like many people, Leontius gets disgusted with himself because he knows he made the wrong decision—looking at the corpses. Socrates concludes that since Leontius became angry with himself for making the wrong choice, that appetite and the spirited sections of the psyche must be
The spirited part of the psyche has the job to crush the person’s appetite; consequently, Socrates puts the spirited sector under reason. In other words, the main purpose for the spirited section is to implement the wishes of the rational sector; fundamentally, the rational and spirited sections of the soul work together to keep the appetite portion of the psyche in check. To support his argument that the spirited sector of the soul does not align with the appetite part, Socrates uses the story of “Leontius, son of Aglaoin” as an example (137). Socrates narrates how Leontius sauntered by a pile of corpses and “had an appetite to look at them” (137). But his reason and spirit told him he should be “disgusted” so he “turned away” (137). Leontius has an internal struggle in his psyche between his appetite and reason—should he look or should he not—but, he ultimately gives into his desires and scolds himself by exclaiming, “Look for yourselves, you evil wretches, take your fill of the beautiful sight!” (137). The reader can observe how angry Leontius becomes at himself. Like many people, Leontius gets disgusted with himself because he knows he made the wrong decision—looking at the corpses. Socrates concludes that since Leontius became angry with himself for making the wrong choice, that appetite and the spirited sections of the psyche must be