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According to Plato, the soul consists of three basic energies which animate human beings: Reason, Emotion, and Appetite. Reason is given the greatest value, while Emotion and especially Appetite are regarded as the "lower passions". The soul that is ordered is governed by Reason, and therefore keeps one's emotions and one's appetites under control. The lower passions *must* submit to the dictates of Reason.
If again I say it is the greatest good for a man every day to discuss virtue and the other things, about which you hear me talking and examining myself and everybody else, but life without enquiry is not worth living for a man. (The Great Dialogues of Plato, P. 443)
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