The Tripartite of the Soul that Socrates Discussed in Plato's Republic

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Recommended: Aristotle’s concept of “Soul” as compared with Plato and Socrates

In this paper I will be discussing the tripartite (three parts) of the soul that Socrates discussed in chapter 6 of Plato’s Republic, and I will compare and contrast them to that of Aristotle and Anthony Kenny. In Plato’s Republic the three parts of the soul consist of the rational, spirited and, desire. In this dialogue the three parts of the soul go hand and hand with three parts of a just society.
The desire or appetite of the soul is what controls our want for the pleasures of life. An example of some of these pleasures are the want for food, money, sex, and any other material good. This part of the soul has the ability to control your rational which then leads an individual to act in a way that they may not normally. In the community sense the individuals that fit into this area are craftsmen, artists, fisherman, and everyone else in the community that isn’t a ruler or in the military. The second part of the soul which is the spirited has to do with courage, crowdedness, anger, etc… Courage is the power to overcome challenges that an individual or community are faced with. When discussing the spirited part of the soul as courageous Socrates states “The only feature of a community which might justify describing it as either cowardly or courageous, I answered is its defensive and military arms.” (Plato, 429b)
The rational is seen as the driver of the soul. As the driver of the soul the rational deals with the knowledge and intellect and is in charge of controlling the other two parts of the soul. The rational part analysis and weighs options based on what is in the best interest for oneself. When Socrates compares the rational part of the soul to that of a community he says that some of a communities inhabitants are able to r...

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... What Aristotle is saying is when you gain knowledge the form of your soul is changing as well, and this is what makes you either good or bad. Plato believes a little different, he believes that you’re either morally good or bad based on if you can control the three parts of the soul. The rational part needs to have complete control over the spirited and appetite to be a morally good person.
There are many differences but not nearly as many similarities. One point that can be seen as similar between Aristotle and Plato is that they both believe that the soul is the ultimate life force of the body. As Plato states it is the driver of the chariot, but to Plato the body isn’t as important as the soul, and Aristotle sees them as equal. Another similarity that I noticed between the two is that they both believe that something will stay behind once the body has decayed.

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