CRAFTING OF MORTAL SOUL IN PLATO’S TIMAEUS

This paper focuses on the crafting of the mortal type of the human soul in the Timaeus. The demiurge entrusts to his divine assistants the forging of this mortal type – consisting of two “parts”: the irascible-aggressive (thumós) and the desiderative-appetitive (epithumía) – in order to enable the connection of the immortal soul, coming from the first mixture, with the mortal body. The immortal, i.e. divine soul, was sowed and produced by the demiurge himself to animate the world as a whole, and so were the stars. Additionally, auxiliary demiurges make the plants, which also possess a soul (the type which is present in living beings); they serve as food for men, without transgressing the process of transmigration of souls established by the gods.