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E211: British Literature to 1760 The Soul in Renaissance Philosophy Alfred J. Drake. Office: Hum. 520 | W 3-4 | ajdrake@ajdrake.com Vicki Silver, UCI According to Renaissance physiology and psychology, the soul had three powers, or man was said to possess three souls, corresponding to different levels in the faculties and functions of living matter. These three souls, or, alternatively, three powers of the soul, were: 1. The vegetable, or vegetable soul, which humans possess in common with plants and animals. It has three powers, or virtues: Reproduction 2. The sensitive (or, in Renaissance English, "sensible") soul, possessed by humans in common with the animals. It has two faculties: A. Knowing. The knowing parts of the sensible soul are two: The exterior, consisting of the five senses. B. Desiring. The desiring part of the soul, sometimes called the sensitive appetite, has two powers: The concupiscible, or desiring, power, which includes the passions of love and hatred, desire and aversion, joy or pleasure, sadness or grief. The irascible power, including the chief passions of anger, hope, despair, courage and fear. 3. The rational soul, possessed by humans alone. It has two great powers: A. The understanding (synonyms: reason, intellect, judgment), or judging power. B. The will, or rational appetite, the power of inner motion. Right action requires that reason and the will (the latter moved first by God) cooperate to direct and control the activities of the sensible soul, especially the passions. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, however, the predominance of passion and the senses has made such cooperation difficult to attain, as Lorenzo from The Merchant of Venice points out to his lover, Jessica: There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st Diagram of the Soul in Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy:
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