The Tripartite Soul in the Timaeus

Abstract

Although the question of whether the soul in its true nature is simple or composite has been extensively debated, the position of the Timaeus on this issue is generally regarded as uncontroversial. The Timaeus, which is Plato's only sustained effort at providing a cosmology and a cosmogony, discusses the formation (by the Demiurge) of the World Soul and nous, the divine part of the human soul.' The other parts of the human soul were fashioned by the lesser gods and, unlike nous, are mortal. Since we are explicitly told that nous is the only immortal part of the soul, scholars have assumed that nous alone will escape the cycle of rebirth.2 I shall challenge the accepted view by contending that the tripartite soul is everlasting (albeit not immortal) and that there is no escaping the cycle of rebirth. This is not offered as the definitive interpretation of the Timaeus; my goal is to cast doubt on the accepted view, thereby provoking discussion and encouraging new lines of investigation. The first step will be to deal with the assertion that only nous is immortal (e.g. 41c-d, 69c-d and 90a). The Timaeus' explicit claim that nous is the only immortal part of the soul is a major obstacle to my interpretation, since the assertion appears to contradict explicitly the notion of an everlasting tripartite soul. However, referring to the appetitive and spirited parts of the soul as mortal does not entail that they will perish, given that they are united with what is divine. Timaeus, repeating the speech of the Demiurge, states: