On the Parts of the Soul
De partibus animae
John of Damascus wrote this brief doctrinal summary of the soul's parts, virtues, law, and faculties. It appears to have been compiled for instruction or reference rather than addressed to a particular person.
The soul's three parts and the four virtues§1
The treatise opens by listing the parts of the soul and the virtues on which the intellect is enthroned, then describes the threefold law and the body-soul relationship.
1The soul has three parts: the appetitive part, the spirited part, and the rational part. The most sacred intellect is enthroned on four virtues: understanding, courage, justice, and temperance.
The law is threefold: natural, written, and spiritual in grace. The body is fourfold, composed like a cosmos, while the soul within it is tripartite, prefiguring the Holy Trinity and giving life to the body through its activities. We say the soul is tripartite because it has a rational part, a spirited part, and an appetitive part. Through the rational part it thinks; through the spirited part it is angry with demons, acting courageously against them; and through the appetitive part it loves God.
Greek · §1
The Greek is on each section page: §1
The appetitive part divided into divine, natural, and fleshly§2
John of Damascus continues his summary of the soul's parts, now subdividing the appetitive part into three kinds of love.
2This appetitive part is itself divided into three: divine, natural, and a middle, fleshly kind, which is the diabolical. The divine kind is loving God; the natural kind is loving what is according to nature; and the fleshly kind is loving what is contrary to nature. For example, marriage is according to nature, while fornication and things like it are contrary to nature. In another I found.
Greek · §2
The Greek is on each section page: §2
The soul's five powers, starting with intellect§3
The treatise has just finished dividing the appetitive part into three kinds and now begins listing the soul's five powers, starting with the intellect.
3The soul has five powers: intellect, discursive thought, opinion, imagination, and sense perception. The intellect is the soul's intellectual sense perception, by which it can see things directly, without investigations.
Greek · §3
The Greek is on each section page: §3
Definitions of the soul's remaining powers§4
John of Damascus is defining the five powers of the soul one by one, having just defined the intellect and now defining discursive thought, opinion, imagination, and sense perception.
4Discursive thought is a power of the soul by which it can know matters through a syllogism. It is called discursive thought because it opens a certain way. Opinion is a power of the soul by which it knows matters without a cause. Imagination is a power of the non-rational soul. Sense perception is a power of the soul capable of apprehending material things.
Greek · §4
The Greek is on each section page: §4