On The Tripartite Soul: A Reflection

Introduction
... there are three groups who fight in the front line: those
entrusted with the appetites of gluttony, those who suggest
avaricious thoughts, and those who incite us to seek the esteem
of men.1
The soul's desiring power (t ) is one of the three aspects or
powers of the soul according to the tripartite division formulated by Plato2.
The other two are the intelligent aspect ( ) and the incensive3
power ( ), which often manifests itself as wrath or anger, but
which can be more generally defined as the force provoking vehement
feelings. The three elements can be used positively, i.e., in accordance with
nature; or negatively, i.e., in a way contrary to nature and leading to sin
() 4.
The appetitive and incensive aspects are sometimes termed the soul's
passible aspect ( ), viz., the aspect which is more especially
vulnerable to pathos or passion and which, when not transformed by positive
spiritual influences, is susceptible to the influence of negative and selfdestructive forces.
Discussion
It is very much alarming for one to realize that, all along, one is deluded.
Delusion is not that illusory conception of things either rens existans or res
cogitans but such a belief that all such an individual is reasonably good but,
actually, he is in the realm of the unreal. And this unreality is the faith to the
pedagogical knowledge inculcated to him since his conception.
The same quagmire of delusion where I wallowed simply made me believe of
the limited humanistic unrealities as that which is absolute and just. Out of
ignorance, interpretatively understanding the three elements of the soul
1 Evagrius Ponticus, Texts on Discrimination in Respect of Passions and Thoughts,
Text 1.
2 See Republic, Book IV
3 The spirited part. Mabaquiao, N. M., Understanding Human Nature: Some
General Approaches
4 cf The Philokalia Glossary
according to synonymy and the familiarity of the same instead of its

intelligibility derailed me toward the misapprehension of life as life. I never
knew that there are differences between 5, and ,6 and
7. Hence, I, many times, thought that the mind is the dominant aspect
of my soul. And I was wrong.
Considering then the corporeal reality of me, there might, as well, a great
probability that I am an appetitive person. Lustful, greedy and a glutton I am,
I thought I am that sensual. I was again wrong.
The fact that the principia of these corporeal desires are not that desire
themselves but something else somewhere my being are some stimuli
causing the deeds of being bodily. Say for example in the midst of idleness is
the experience of sexual urges. Another example is when I am in the state of
depression, I eat a lot. And why is it that whenever I am in the peril of
financial shortage, I often get hungry, but when I have some ample amount
for my needs, I seldom feel the desire of food?
As Philosophy is the knowledge of all things through its ultimate causes with
the use of natural reason8, there must be some principal reason to all the
desires and tendencies and their resident haven is the spiritual aspect of my
soul. Where else?
Conclusion
The drive to anger, rancor and other ardent feelings inhabits in that spiritual
aspect of man9 as per the definition and the meaning intended by Plato in
The Republic. That feeling to have more is not rooted in the appetitive
element of the soul for the latter simply performs its function as per the
motivation of the former. It cannot be the reasoning mind either for the mind
5 The discursive, conceptualizing and logical faculty in man, the function of which is to
draw conclusions or formulate concepts deriving from data provided either by revelation or
spiritual knowledge or by sense-observation.
6 A conceptual image', intermediate between fantasy and an abstract concept

7 The knowledge of the intellect as distinct from that of the reason and is inspired by God,
and so linked with contemplation and immediate spiritual perception.
8 Artigas, M. Introduction to Philosophy, Sinag-tala Publishers.

9 I dare not to tackle the principles of Ancestral Sin herein but, I strongly believe
that this explains concupiscence.
is not that omniscient to have possessed prima facie knowledge. The

receptive mind is relative to the proclivity of the spirit to either accept
certain information or sway it away.
Therefore, the spiritual power of the soul, considering its influence to both
the other aspects is the most dominant element in my being. As it resides in
the , which is the highest faculty in man, through which provided it is
purified he knows God or the inner essences or principles of created things
by means of direct apprehension or spiritual perception10 and dwells in the
depths of the soul11, it constitutes the innermost aspect of the heart and it is
the organ of contemplation12.
q
PONFERRADA, Francis C.
January 16, 2014
10 Philokalia Glossary
11 St. Diadokos
12 Makarian Homilies

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Introduction

according to synonymy and the familiarity of the same instead of its

6 A conceptual image', intermediate between fantasy and an abstract concept

8 Artigas, M. Introduction to Philosophy, Sinag-tala Publishers.

is not that omniscient to have possessed prima facie knowledge. The

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