Plato’s Theory of the Soul: Essence, Incarnation, and Knowledge
The Soul’s Place in Plato’s Philosophy
Existence is the life humans live in the world. However, human experience isn’t solely composed of the world, but also of the self. Plato explains the world’s origin through creation, but the self’s origin through incarnation. This notion, central to his theory of love (the foundation of his anthropology), is closely linked to his theories of ideas and creation. Unlike those, it focuses on human beings, falling within anthropology. While the theory of ideas is fundamental to Plato’s metaphysics, the theory of the soul is fundamental to his anthropology.
The Metaphysical Soul and the Foundation of Self
Images are the metaphysical foundation of the world as they are essences transcending the physical. The soul is the metaphysical foundation of the self as it is a spirit transcending the psyche. The soul and ideas are related, sharing key characteristics:
- Supernatural: Manifested in birth and death, the natural boundaries of human life. Plato believed the human soul is immortal.
- Immaterial: The soul, according to Plato, is entirely immaterial. If it were material, it couldn’t be immortal, as material beings are subject to change and death.
- Latent: The soul exists within humans without their conscious awareness. It’s an unconscious component. The body and ego are conscious, but the spirit is not.
Two Lives of the Soul: Supernatural and Natural
The soul, akin to ideas, belongs in the topos uranus. This forms a unified experiential place. Life within this place is supernaturally existential, as both the soul and the ideas within the topos uranus are supernatural realities. This life transcends natural phenomena like birth, death, creation, and destruction. This supernatural life, distinct from existence, can be termed “Being.” Key differences between Being and existence:
- Being is a spiritual life, while existence is human life.
- Being is supernatural, without beginning or end, while existence is natural and finite.
- Being resides in the experiential place formed by the soul and the realm of essences (the topos uranus), while existence resides in the place formed by the self and the world.
Incarnation is the soul losing Being and acquiring existence. Plato viewed incarnation negatively, as a “fall” due to a fault. To regain Being, humans must undergo purification during their embodied life.
The Dual Nature of Humans and the Tripartite Soul
Before embodiment, the soul isn’t human. Afterward, it’s only partially human. While part of a human, the soul remains fundamentally other—a spirit.
The Duality of Soul/Body
The body isn’t merely an accidental, temporary vehicle for the soul:
- Accidental: This union isn’t essential to the soul, which can exist independently. It arises from an “accident”: guilt.
- Temporary: It’s time-limited, ending at death.
Plato’s anthropology is radically dualistic; body and soul are separate, not fused. He views the body negatively, as the soul’s “prison” and “grave”:
- Prison: The embodied soul is held outside its true home, the topos uranus, confined within the world’s limitations (imperfection, mortality, etc.).
- Grave: Upon incarnation, the soul’s spirit becomes unconscious, a kind of “death.”
The Tripartite Soul
The embodied soul is tripartite: rational, irascible, and concupiscible. These correspond to reason (knowledge), spirit (will/courage), and appetite (desire). At death, the rational part remains and is reincarnated, while the others depart. The rational soul pre-exists incarnation, while the irascible and concupiscible arise from it.
The Embodied Soul as a Stranger
Existence and Estrangement
The body as prison and tomb symbolizes the embodied soul’s existence in a foreign place with a foreign identity. These form the experiential place of existence: the world and self. Existence, for Plato, involves alienation. As the world and self define the place of life, the soul experiences both alienation and estrangement, summarized as “strangeness.” The embodied soul is strange, both “foreign” and “alienated.”
Estrangement and Being
Being is not only lost through alienation but also forgotten. The alienated soul, identified with the self, can’t recall Being. To remember, the soul must detach from this false identity, allowing its true identity to emerge. This is the purpose of purification. Remembering Being isn’t the same as returning to it. The soul must overcome both alienation and estrangement, returning to the topos uranus.
Opinion and Truth
Plato’s theory of knowledge stems from his theories of ideas and the soul. The separation of the world and topos uranus corresponds to the separation of opinion and truth. Opinion is lower knowledge, truth is higher.