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Philosophy

 

Plato believes that an individual is human only to the extent that he resembles or participates in the Form "humanness." If "humanness" is defined in terms of being a rational animal, then an individual is human to the extent that he is rational ("Plato-circa," online). Plato divides the human soul into three parts: the rational part, the will, and the appetites. The just person is the one in whom the rational element, supported by the will, controls the appetites. This is where Plato's theory of the Soul is established. He argues to the contrary- that the three basic energies of the soul must be ordered in order for a person to be happy. The Emotions (reactions like anger or fear) and the Appetites (needs for food, sex, money, etc) must be ruled by Reason (thinking, persuasion, argument) in order for a person to be truly happy. When the lower passions are ruled by Reason, a person is also thereby just. In the end, such a person will be pulled apart by his lower passions, and cannot possibly find happiness with a disordered soul. Moreover, Plato argues, the suffering saint is happy amid his suffering because he is ruled by reason, and his soul is ordered. Thus, happiness springs from inward qualities in the soul, according to Plato, and is not contingent upon external circumstances. When the lower passions are ordered by Reason, there is "psychic harmony," a quality of soul that is not vulnerable to a fatal blow from an external source. A person can therefore suffer externally, and remain happy because there is harmony internally, in his soul ("Plato Theory of the Soul," online).
             The psychic harmony of the soul, according to Plato, expresses itself in four cardinal virtues, which are each related to the three basic energies of the soul. In relation to Reason, the happy or just person possesses Wisdom (or prudence). In relation to Emotion, the just person has the virtue of Courage.


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