Tripartition and the Spirited “Part” of the Soul

Chapter 1 defends the seriousness of Plato’s commitment to the tripartite theory of the soul that he presents in the Republic, Phaedrus, and Timaeus. This defense constitutes a response to skeptical commentators who suggest his investment in tripartite psychology, and especially in a spirited part of that psychology, is unserious, tentative, or temporary. It also surveys the language Plato uses to describe the different “parts” of the soul, and it sketches an interpretation of tripartition according to which each of the three parts is a distinct source of the psychic motions and motivations that cause and explain human action. The spirited part of the soul, on this interpretation, is one such source of motivation.