Medieval Society and the Tripartite Soul - 2025-03-08
In Plato's Republic he argues that the soul is composed of three parts: the logical, the spirited, and the appetitive. The logical (or rational) part is that which cares for and seeks the truth. The spirited that part by which we are impassioned by what we could (for the sake of simplicity) call emotions, such as anger or joy. The appetitive that which is concerned with matters of material appetite, such as food, sex, and other such pleasures. He also argues that these three parts, if the soul is to be well-ordered, ought to be placed in a hierarchy where the logical rules over the spirited and the appetitive, and the spirited is subject to the logical and commands the appetite.
So far, all of this should seem to make sense, especially to a Catholic who understands that we first seek God (i.e. Truth) and subject our whole being to Him; we then rule over our passions, not to quench them, but to direct them to that which is conducive to God's glory, which often involves (especially now during the penitential season of Lent) the control of the appetite. But Plato goes on to say that what can be found in the soul may also be found in the city (i.e. society): that it too has these three parts and ought be ordered so. The argument I would like to make is that Medieval Society (i.e. Christendom) represented this order. With its imperfections, certainly, but nonetheless I think it the case that Medieval Society functioned under this model.
It is generally well known that the Medieval Society was divided into three main parts: the Church, the rulers, and the workers. Of these three it seems quite evident how they line up with the parts of the soul. The Church represents the logical, not because it is primarily made up of philosophers, but because its primary concern is with the Truth, i.e. God who is the highest truth. The rulers are the spirited, as being both warriors and rulers made them seekers of glory, but namely they were the only ones capable of establishing order based on higher ideals. The workers were those concerned with the more mundane and merely necessary affairs of food and crafts. My argument is thus that in the Middle Ages society was organized such that the Church ruled of the rulers and the workers, and the rulers subjected themselves to the Church and commanded the workers.
To modern audiences this may be strange considering that the highest authority within a kingdom was considered to be its king, but this is because in today's secular society we do not understand how the Church could influence society (and indeed its governance) without necessarily forming a part of the governing body (i.e. what we now call the State). Medieval Society took religion seriously, thus understanding that God's representatives on Earth carried real authority thought ought not be disregarded, especially as it pertains to matters of faith and morals. If not for this it would have been impossible for popes to have convoked the entirety of Christendom to fight in the Crusades. Thus it was not necessary that the highest authority in a kingdom be a cleric, for all kings recognized the highest authority on Earth to be none other than God himself.
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