Three Parts of the Soul--Chariot (Simple)

Plato’s Three Parts of the Soul

Plato sees the soul as three different parts. The first part I will discuss is appetite or desire. This is the primitive part of our self that wants food because of hunger and holds our sexual urges. If someone is ruled by desire alone, they will be gluttonous and insensitive to others. This would not be a reasonable way to live and would not make good person. However, this part of our self is essential to our survival, and without it we would not take care of our physical needs properly. The second part of self is our spirit or passion. The passionate part of self is our sense of empathy, our aggressiveness, and our ability to love. If we were ruled by only passion, our emotions would be out of control most of the time and we would bounce back and forth from anger to love. The last part of self is reason for the purpose of keeping these two parts of self in check. Reason is the guiding force between desire and passion. It gives us the ability to choose which part will be best suited for situations in our life. Plato sees these three parts as working together to create harmony.

Plato uses an analogy of the chariot that explains his theory of the different parts of the soul. There are two horses pulling the chariot; a black horse and a white horse. The black horse is represented to be our appetite or desire. The white horse is represented to be our spirit or emotion. These two forces are pulling us. The chariot is represented as our reason which is guiding us down our path. Without our reason we would be out of control with nothing guiding us. This gives a great visual of Plato’s theory and is easy to understand.

Plato’s theory of self is largely based on Socrates’ beliefs. I think it is important to look at Socrates’ beliefs as written by Plato because it gives a good foundation for understanding the three parts of the soul and how the idea came to be. According to Socrates, there are two kinds of things: the perceptible (physical) and the intelligible (etheric). The perceptible part of the self is the body which is destructible and perishes when one dies. The intelligible part of the self is the soul and it is divine therefore, is indestructible. Socrates believed that the soul is not fully responsible for thinking and feeling moreover, the animate body is also not fully responsible for our thoughts and feelings. They are dependent on each other. So, our body cannot be alive without our soul.

This brings us to why it is important to understand the different parts of the soul and how they pertain to the way we live our lives. Whether we use our reasoning properly determines our quality of life. According to Plato, we can only live in happiness if the three parts of our soul are harmonious. If we let either of our horses pull without reason guiding us, we will be unharmonious therefore, lead an unhappy life.