Plato believes that in constructing the soul in this way he is able to define morality as those actions which tend to bring the soul into balance, just as by defining society in the way he does he thinks he can define justice. The key to both morality and justice, according to Plato, is order. Although Plato's view of the soul is robust and illuminating, there are some possibilities which it does not account for, corresponding with the same notions which have been used to criticize Freud. Specifically, he doesn't seem...

Such a possibility exists in accounts given by major religions, philosophical traditions such as Transcendentalism and its descendents, and Jungian philosophy and psychology. Plato, by relying on material factors in identifying the soul, seems inadequate to explain the possibility that an immortal quality may exist in the depths of the soul, even though Plato speaks of immortality as a kind of lasting legacy that each individual person can achieve.