Motion toward good and toward its contrary

Use in the book

The resumption at 988c distinguishes two unsatisfactory ways of speaking about gods. The first accounts of divine origins and deeds fail to please the temperate. The “second” accounts make fire, water, and other bodies oldest and soul later, giving priority to the motion a body produces through heat, cooling, and related conditions. The edition identifies this second group as those who came after the poets, but that historical identification is explanatory interpretation, not a list of named thinkers in the dialogue.

The Athenian reverses the explanatory order. Soul can move both itself and the body in which it is present, and bodily weight is not a decisive objection (988d). That reversal belongs to the broader account of soul's priority and causation. The moral qualification added here is equally important: motion toward the good belongs to the best soul, whereas motion toward the contrary belongs to the contrary soul (988e).

It follows that “soul causes motion” is not equivalent to “every motion caused by any soul is good.” The text itself distinguishes the direction and quality of psychic causation. Nor does its language require identifying exactly two cosmic souls, one good and one evil, as the only possible beings. The contrast gives a principle for evaluating opposed motions; the dialogue does not here inventory the number, rank, and sphere of every bad soul.

The final assertion says that good things must have conquered and must conquer things that are not such. The perfect infinitive and present infinitive make achieved and continuing prevalence audible. This is a normative-cosmological claim about the ascendancy of good, not a demonstration that bad events never occur or that a particular person's suffering proves divine abandonment. Earlier disorder and human misdistribution had already been admitted.

The paragraph closes by recalling the justice that avenges the unholy (988e). Its concern is not simply choosing between two mechanical theories. An account of causation affects how the divine is honored, what goodness means, and whether the learner can become wise about just things. The transition back to the human curriculum follows from that connection.

Places to read

1. 988cπρεσβύτατα μὲν τὰ πυρὸς ἐλέγετο καὶ ὕδατος — The rejected ordering makes bodily elements oldest
2. 988c–d2θερμότητι καὶ ψύξεσιν — Physical conditions are the earlier account's means of motion
3. 988dψυχῆς οὔσης αἰτίας τοῦ ὅλου — Psychic causation supplies the new explanatory starting point
4. 988eτὴν δ’ ἐπὶ τἀγαθὸν φορὰν καὶ κίνησιν τῆς ἀρίστης ψυχῆς εἶναι — The best soul explains movement toward good
5. 988eτὴν δ’ ἐπὶ τοὐναντίον ἐναντίαν — The contrary direction receives a contrary psychic cause
6. 988eνενικηκέναι δεῖ καὶ νικᾶν τὰ ἀγαθὰ — Good must have prevailed and prevail
7. 988eτὴν τῶν ἀνοσίων τιμωρὸν; δίκην — Avenging justice frames the theological conclusion

Translation in this edition

“Motion” and “movement” distinguish phora and kinēsis; “poor” preserves phlauros beside stronger terms for badness elsewhere. The unclear words at 988c are not repaired into a confident historical thesis. The exact good-motion qualification is preserved rather than absorbed into an unrestricted claim that soul as such guarantees goodness.

Justice's punitive function — τιμωρός (timōros)

τιμωρός (timōros)

Justice's punitive function. Justice is characterized as avenger of the unholy at the conclusion of the causal reversal. Attested: τιμωρὸν (988e). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Qualified good psychic cause — ἄριστος (aristos)

ἄριστος (aristos)

Qualified good psychic cause. The best soul, rather than soul without qualification, is assigned motion and movement toward good. Attested: ἀρίστης (988e). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Achieved and continuing good prevalence — νικᾶν (nikan)

νικᾶν (nikan)

Achieved and continuing good prevalence. Good things must have conquered and must conquer what is not good; the two verbal forms make completed and ongoing prevalence audible. Attested: νενικηκέναι; νικᾶν (988e). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Opposed psychic quality — ἐναντίος (enantios)

ἐναντίος (enantios)

Opposed psychic quality. The psychic cause of motion contrary to good is itself contrary; the passage does not fix a total inventory of two cosmic souls. Attested: ἐναντίαν (988e). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Rejected bodily explanatory priority — ψῦξις (psyxis)

ψῦξις (psyxis)

Rejected bodily explanatory priority. Cooling or coldness accompanies heat among the conditions through which body was wrongly accorded the superior motion. Attested: ψύξεσιν (988c). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Rejected bodily explanatory priority — θερμότης (thermotēs)

θερμότης (thermotēs)

Rejected bodily explanatory priority. Heat is one bodily condition invoked by the account that gives physical self-motion priority over soul. Attested: θερμότητι (988c). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Direction toward good — φορά (phora)

φορά (phora)

Direction toward good. Motion toward the good belongs to the best soul, while contrary motion belongs to the contrary. Soul's causing motion does not make every motion good. The edition distinguishes this noun from kinēsis, movement. Attested: φορὰν (988e). Motion toward good and toward its contrary; Soul as cause bodily passivity and self movement.

Inferior effects — φλαῦρος (phlauros)

φλαῦρος (phlauros)

Inferior effects. The poor things are distinguished from good things in the account of differing psychic causes; the adjective is not everywhere identical to extreme wickedness. Attested: φλαύρων (988d). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Target of avenging justice — ἀνόσιος (anosios)

ἀνόσιος (anosios)

Target of avenging justice. The theological account is framed as accordant with justice avenging the unholy; this is distinct from the earlier impious-word family. Attested: ἀνοσίων (988e). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Objection to psychic movement — βάρος (baros)

βάρος (baros)

Objection to psychic movement. The claim that soul cannot carry any weight is refused in defending its ability to carry itself and body. Attested: βάρος (988d). Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

The best soul for movement toward good (contextual phrase)

τὴν δ’ ἐπὶ τἀγαθὸν φορὰν καὶ κίνησιν τῆς ἀρίστης ψυχῆς εἶναι (988e)

Good-directed motion is specifically assigned to the best soul after soul has been made cause of all movement. The moral qualification matters: psychic causation alone does not make every motion good. The following contrary case confirms that distinction. Soul as cause bodily passivity and self movement; Motion toward good and toward its contrary.

Must have prevailed and must prevail (contextual phrase)

νενικηκέναι δεῖ καὶ νικᾶν (988e)

The perfect and present infinitives join achieved victory to ongoing ascendancy. The asserted prevalence of good is not equivalent to the nonexistence of inferior events or to a completed proof about the fate of each individual. Motion toward good and toward its contrary.