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ETHICS & POLITICS, ANCIENT & MODERN
Sven Weigand (PhD Stanford, Philosophy)
Friday November 16, 2012 | 03:15 -05:00 PM | 90

Title: The Partition of the Soul in the Republic

Abstract:

In this paper, I propose a new interpretation of the Republic’s argument for the division of the soul into three parts: reason, spirit, and appetite. My interpretation of this argument differs in important ways from other interpretations that are available. As a result, the conception of the soul-parts that derives from my interpretation of the Book 4 argument constitutes an alternative to the two main conceptions that are usually taken to be mutually exclusive and exhaustive. On one of these conceptions, each part of the soul is agent-like, which means that they are at least the proper subjects of psychological states and activities that we normally attribute to individuals. On the other conception, each part of the soul is not a subject of any states or activities, but something more abstract (e.g. an aspect or conceptual part of the soul). Finally, my interpretation of the Book 4 argument and the conception of the soul-parts that derives from it support a once orthodox view that has recently come under attack, namely that the soul of every human being possesses the three parts that Socrates distinguishes in Book 4.


Commentator: Chris Bobonich (Stanford Philosophy)