The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

43 The Spirited Part of the Soul
See 439e-441c. Socrates considers the example of Leontius, who finds himself at
the site of an execution, desiring to gaze upon the corpses, but at the same time
desiring not to. Socrates judges, again, that at least two distinct sources of
motivation must exist to explain the phenomenon. The desire to gaze upon the
corpses is characteristic of what he is calling the appetitive part, an urge with no
concern for anything beyond getting satisfied. But what is the nature of the
opposing desire? Is it the rational part at work again, seeking to do what is good
overall, or is it something else? Socrates describes Leontius as disgusted, and
then, when he gives in to his appetitive desire, as angry. Is this the rational part
getting angry with the appetitive part? Is the same part getting both disgusted and
angry? Socrates leaves the details of the Leontius example unexplained, but he
suggests that anger indicates the presence of a third source of motivation, a
spirited part of the soul, which often allies itself with the rational part, but never
with the appetitive part. It is particularly in evidence when people become aware
that they have been treated unjustly; then it boils up, motivating the soul to fight
for what it believes to be just, enabling the soul to endure “hunger, cold, and every
imposition of that sort . . . stand firm and win out over them, not ceasing its noble
efforts until it achieves its purpose, or dies, or like a dog being called to heal by a
shepherd, is called back by the reason alongside it and becomes gentle.” That this
spirited part is not just the rational part getting angry can be seen from examples
of the rational part doing just this, leashing in anger like a dog. Socrates gives one
such example from Homer. Odysseus, twenty years away from home, returns to
find his house overrun with arrogant, ill-mannered men, pestering his wife and
son, and cavorting with the servant women. Anger wells up in his heart, and he
desires to slay the servant women on the spot; but the rational part of his soul,
looking ahead as usual, pulls back and devises a plan that will take out the men as
well. How then does Socrates understand the nature of the spirited part of the
soul? It is the seat of anger and righteous indignation, and it can be directed
outwardly at other people, or inwardly at the appetitive part of the soul. In Book
VIII, when Socrates describes what it is like for a person to be ruled by the spirited