The Republic · ¶5379

Soul. [The psychology of the Republic, while agreeing generally with that of the other Dialogues, is in some respects a modification or developement of their conclusions. —The division of the soul into three elements, reason, spirit, appetite, here first assumes a precise form, and henceforward has a permanent place in the language of philosophy (cp. Introd. p. lxvii). On this division the distinction between forms of government is based (see s. v. Government). Virtue, again, is the harmony or accord of the different elements, when the dictates of reason are enforced by passion against the appetites, while vice is the anarchy or discord of the soul when passion and appetite join in rebellion against reason (cp. 4. 444; 10. 609 foll.; Soph. 228; Pol. 296 D; Laws 10. 906 C]. —Regarded from the intellectual side the soul is analysed into four faculties, reason, understanding, faith, knowledge of shadows. These severally correspond to the four divisions of knowledge (6. 511 E), two for intellect and two for opinion; and thus arises the Platonic ‘proportion,’—being : becoming :: intellect : opinion, and science : belief :: understanding : knowledge of shadows. These divisions are partly real, partly formed by a logical process, which, as in so many distinctions of ancient philosophers, has outrun fact, and are further illustrated and explained by the allegory of the cave in Book VII (see Introduction, p. xciv). —The pre-existence and the immortality of the soul are assumed. The doctrine of ἀνάμνησις or ‘remembrance of a previous birth’ is not so much dwelt upon as in the Meno, Phaedo, or Phaedrus, neither is it made a proof of immortality (Meno 86; Phaedo 73). It is apparently alluded to in the story of Er, where we are told that ‘the pilgrims drank the waters of Unmindfulness; the foolish took too deep a draught, but the wise were more moderate’ (10. 621 A). In the Xth Book Glaucon is supposed to receive with amazement Socrates’ confident assertion of immortality, although a previous allusion to another state of existence has passed unheeded (6. 498 D); and in earlier parts of the discussion (e.g. 2. 362; 3. 386), the censure which is passed on the common representations of Hades implies in itself some belief in a future life [cp. Introduction to Phaedo, Vol. I]. The argument for the immortality of the soul is not drawn out at great length or with the emphasis of the Phaedo. It is chiefly of a verbal character:—All things which perish are destroyed by some inherent evil; but the soul is not destroyed by sin, which is the evil proper to her, and must therefore be immortal (cp. Introd. p. clxvi). —The condition of the soul after death is represented by Plato in his favourite form of a myth [cp. Meno 81; Phaedo 88; Gorg. 522]. The Pamphylian warrior Er, who is supposed to have died in battle, revives when placed on the funeral pyre and relates his experiences in the other world. He tells how the just are rewarded and the wicked punished, and is privileged to describe the spectacle which he had witnessed of the choice of a new life by the pilgrim souls. The reward of release from bodily existence is not held out to the philosopher (Phaedo 114 C), but his wisdom, which has a deeper root than habit (10. 619), preserves him from overhaste in his choice and ensures him a happy destiny. —The transmigration of souls is represented in the myth much as in the Phaedrus and Timaeus. Plato in all likelihood derived the doctrine from an Oriental source, but through Pythagorean channels. It probably had a real hold on his mind, as it agreed, or could be made to agree, with the conviction, which he elsewhere expresses, of the remedial nature of punishment [cp. Protag. 323; Gorg. 523–525].

Plato · translated by Benjamin Jowett · composite transcription based on the 1888 third edition
Benjamin Jowett, revised third edition (1888), with Stephanus numbering from the 1908 edition; composite transcription, Project Gutenberg #55201
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