PLATO
Plato was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He was a student of
Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. Plato is best known for his theory of forms that asserted that the physical
world is not really the “real world” because the ultimate reality exist beyond the real world.
Plato's concept of the self can be gleaned from his notion of the soul. This is because, and it must be noted from the
outset, we cannot find in Plato a full articulation of the concept of the "self" In fact, in ancient Greek philosophy, we
could not find any systematic articulation of the concept of self. What we can find when we study the ancient
Greek's conception of the self are questions like "What is the fundamental truth about human nature?" or "What
defines the fundamental identity of an individual?". These questions, however, give us an idea of how the ancient
Greek philosophers understood the "self", that is, as human persons capable of reason and action. And if one is quite
familiar with ancient Greek philosophy, these aspects of the human person (that is, the capacity to think and act)
point to the idea of the "soul". Again, this explains why we always refer to the soul when we study Plato's concept of
the self. As a matter of fact, in many of his dialogues, Plato contends that the true self of the human person is the
"rational soul", that is, the reason or the intellect that constitutes the person's soul, and which is separable from the
body. So, how does Plato conceive of the soul as the true self of humans? Plato conceives of the self as a knower.
Hence, for Plato, the concepts of the self and knowledge are inextricably linked. This is because Plato's concept of the
self is practically constructed on the basis of his reflections on the nature of the rational soul as the highest form of
cognition. But it must be noted that for Plato, the human person is composed of body and soul. In other words, the
human person is a dichotomy of body and soul. The body is the material and destructible part of the human person,
while the soul is the immaterial and indestructible part. Plato argues that the soul is really an entity distinct from
the body. Indeed, for Plato, the soul is the self. As we can see, the body and the soul can be separated. In fact, Plato
believes that the soul is just residing in the body temporarily. Thus, in Plato's concept of the self, we have the idea
that when the human person dies, the soul departs from the body leaving the latter to decompose. And because the
soul is immaterial and indestructible, it cannot die. It is eternal.
According to plato, the soul conceived of a self, has three parts. Namely: the rational soul, spiritual soul, appetitive
soul. According to plato, the rational soul is located to the head. Being located to the head, the rational soul enables
the human person to think, analyze, reflect and do cognitive functions. This element loves the truth hence, should
rule over the other parts of the soul through reasoning. The spiritual soul is located in the chest. It enables the person
to experience happiness, joy, sadness, abomination, anger and other emotional feelings. This element is inclined
towards reason but understands the demand of passion. This part loves honor and victory. Lastly, the appetitive soul
is located in the abdomen. This is the part of the soul that drives the human person to experience physical pain,
hunger, thirst and other physical wants. This element enjoys sensual experiences such as food, drink and sex.
According to plato, the rational soul superior to the spiritual and appetitive soul as it serves as their moral and
rational guide.
“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in other”
-Plato
