"Plato's Politeia (the work we call The Republic thanks to Cicero's Latin mistranslation) describes the soul as having three parts: reason ( logistikon), spirit ( thumos), and appetite ( epithumia). But throughout the dialogue, Plato also describes a fourth element... repeatedly, and by name. He calls it the auto politeia (self-constitution): the governing principle that determines how the three parts relate. Plato has it in the text. His readers have looked right at it and counted three for 2,400 years."
"I titled my first article on this subject "Plato's Super-Ego" (2016) because Freud came closest to recovering this fourth element. His Super-Ego is an internalized governance structure, the auto politeia in modern dress. But Freud made it primarily punitive, a harsh parental critic. Plato's auto politeia can be just or unjust, caring or abusive. It is a constitution, not a judge. And Freud collapsed spirit and appetite into the Id, losing the distinction between what you love and what you need to survive."
Star Trek's bridge crew embodies four psychological functions: administrative courage, logical reason, humanist care, and a governing self-constitution. Plato names reason (logistikon), spirit (thumos), and appetite (epithumia) while repeatedly identifying a fourth element, the auto politeia (self-constitution), which governs their relations. Freud recovered a similar internal governance as the Super-Ego but emphasized punitive features and merged spirit with appetite into the Id. The auto politeia can be just or unjust and operates as a constitution rather than a mere judge. Psychological health requires all four elements performing their proper roles.
Read at Psychology Today
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