Logistikon, thymos and epithymia before Plato

Abstract

Abstract: Plato’s division of the soul (Republic Book IV) into three parts - the rational, the spirited and the appetitive - had significant precedents in the works of the pre-Socratic philosophers. The Pythagoreans began a more systematic reflection, compared to previous authors, on the tensions and desires of the human soul, linked partly to the ethics of καιρός and harmony. The tripartite division of the soul also appears in the works of Diogenes Laertius and Iamblichus and would become the core doctrine of Platonic ethics and politics. Heraclitus’ position is emblematic. Although he may appear to be a “rigorist” due to his outspoken critique of worldly pleasures, there is a fairly enigmatic fragment that clearly highlights the complexity of his ideas. With the writings of Empedocles, and subsequently the Sophists and the Atomists, and especially Democritus, the terms that distinguish the three parts of the soul and their functions also took on other features which would be set within the theoretical framework of Plato.