Every study that deals with Plato’s view of the soul must first examine the Platonic Corpus as a whole and find their own way in it. However, the following question is encountered: Can the nature of the soul fully be comprehended without comprehending the nature of the universe? Then one will realize that this Socratic question must inevitably be counted as the starting point of this research. When reexamining the Platonic Corpus with this question in mind, the study will this time place itself directly between the lines of Timaeus and try to proceed into the myths narrated in these lines. Then the study will turn to Phaedrus and see that the narratives in this work form a unity with those in Timaeus. In addition, the study will help one understand that these dialogues are among the primary sources from which one can obtain Plato’s view of the creation, origin, and embodiment of the soul, thus it will determine the vital points of the route that leads to Plato’s view of soul. However, the study will discerned that the expressions in these dialogues contain no clear explanation but are laced with metaphors that need to be transcended. At this point, one can hear the words of Socrates in Phaedrus: “We can’t explain exactly what the soul is, but we can explain what it looks like.” These words will illuminate the way like a flare. In this case, Plato’s view of soul can be revealed by opening the curtain behind these metaphorical expressions. For this reason, the first thing the study will do is present an analysis within the framework of the dialogues in Timaeus and Phaedrus and discuss firstly the creation, origin, and then embodiment of the soul in this context.

In this way, the study will show in light of the analyses based on the narratives in the Timaeus and Phaedrus that the soul in Plato’s eyes is an issue that needs to be dealt with and examined under two separate contexts. The first of these is the original soul, which means the essence of the universe (i.e., the World-soul); the second is the soul that is formed by God as a craftsman using the leaven of the World-soul and bestowing it upon creatures. Therefore, while investigating the origin, nature, and function of the soul, one must start with the original soul as a method. In this respect, because the original and universal soul contains a reason and was formed as an immortal principle, the created souls from it inevitably must have reason and immortality, even if lacks the same value and competence. In this way, by originating from such a source, the soul has an independent and individual nature.

This immortal and individual nature of the soul is the main issue upon which Plato built his view of the soul. For Plato, the soul is essentially one, whole, and monolithic with no separate or independent parts. This is why the soul has such a unique and lofty position when considered on its own, freed from the bonds of the body, rather than in its already incarnated state. However, when taken in its embodied form, the soul constitutes a perfect unity in all its aspects, similar to how the organs of the body have no value on their own. In this sense, the partition of the soul is a hypothetical approach. It is a figurative expression that serves to articulate an incomprehensible issue. When one delves deeper into this metaphor, describing the mortal soul as “spirit” and “appetite” expresses the dispositions that enable the immortal soul that contains reason to hold on to earthly and bodily life. Thus, the fact that the soul is considered as both a mortal and immortal being finds meaning at this point, because the soul is able to live in this world and to establish a relationship with the real world (i.e., the realm of Ideas) during this worldly life. As a result, the soul according to Plato forms the vital point of his ontological and epistemological theory in terms of the possibility of establishing connections between the realm of Ideas and this world.