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How Did Plato Split The Human Soul

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Plato splits the human soul up into three parts. Each part corresponds to a certain area of the body. The parts are referred to as reason, spirit, and appetite. According to Plato, all people fall into one of these three categories based on the type of characteristics that are leading their soul. The parts also determine how you live your life. Plato believes that “Reason” is the best type of soul, followed by “Spirit”, and “Appetite” being the least desirable of the three.
The first section of the soul Plato refers to as “Reason”. This section of the soul corresponds to the head. Reason is linked with the head because those whose souls are directed by reason are said to be logical. These individuals also tend to aim for the truth. According …show more content…

Plato, along with Rousseau, had the idea that people have a passion for what is good. Rousseau’s ideas indicate that people have a naturally good instinct for compassion and sympathy. This idea was based around Rousseau believing that what people naturally wanted with their hearts is good. Plato’s ideas on this silver type of soul also tie in with Aristotle’s thoughts on courage and fearlessness. Aristotle thought that courage and fearlessness were different things. Courage is fearing the right thing, in the right way, at the right degree, whereas fearlessness is foolishness. An example would be a police officer. Through his line of work, he is showing a passion to protect the people in the community. If he does not have fear, he would not have the motivation to protect himself. Aristotle says courage is between the two poles of cowardly and fearless. This ties in with Plato’s idea of passion and honor of the silver soul. The police officer has the willingness to fight for what he honors, but without fear and being checked with reason, he would not be able to be afraid and protect himself to continue doing what he does. These are reasons I believe that Plato is right in his description of the “Spirit” type of

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