ing its independence. Socrates is now content with three parts to the soul. At this pointin his argument, Socrates appears a little less than thorough. In his arguments, he seems to create the spirited part to satisfy conflicts he perceives, but then seemsquite content to stop there. In his rush to create a soul with as many parts as the city, Socrates fails to investigate the possibility of a soul with more than three parts.While it is inconclusive whether or not a further division of the soul is needed, Socrates method does not necessarily prove that there are three and only three parts tothe soul.To relate the just city and the soul, Socrates attempts a hierarchical relationship. Socrates makes use of the fact that each citizen in the ideal city is doing his or herown work and is therefore just. Now, if the citizen is just, then it follows each part of the person's soul must also be doing its job and be just. This assertion, ofcourse, rests on the assumption that justice applies to both the city and the soul and that the soul is divisible. If this assertion is valid then the comparison follows: therational part of the soul is analogous to the city's rulers, providing wisdom and leadership, and the spirited part of the soul is analogous to the guardians, providingcourage. Also, the person and the city can both be called moderate if all the parts are acting harmoniously. Thus, as with the city, justice is what remains. And, justlike the city, justice is each part doing its own job and not meddling with what is not its own. Just as a just city is in a natural state, to produce justice "is to establishthe parts of the soul in a natural relation of control and being controlled" (444d).To find justice in the soul, Socrates and his fellow philosophers are faced with the daunting task of also determining the inner workings of the soul itself. However, bycreating and examining an ideal city, they are able to isolate certain characteristics, i...
