If, then, its nature admits of its being divided,
what can it be that holds the parts together? Surely not the body;
on the contrary it seems rather to be the soul that holds the body
together; at any rate when the soul departs the body disintegrates and
decays. If, then, there is something else which makes the soul one,
this unifying agency would have the best right to the name of soul,
and we shall have to repeat for it the question: Is it one or
multipartite? If it is one, why not at once admit that 'the soul' is
one? If it has parts, once more the question must be put: What holds
its parts together, and so ad infinitum?
The question might also be raised about the parts of the soul:
What is the separate role of each in relation to the body? For, if the
whole soul holds together the whole body, we should expect each part
of the soul to hold together a part of the body. But this seems an
impossibility; it is difficult even to imagine what sort of bodily
part mind will hold together, or how it will do this.
It is a fact of observation that plants and certain insects go on
living when divided into segments; this means that each of the
segments has a soul in it identical in species, though not numerically
identical in the different segments, for both of the segments for a
time possess the power of sensation and local movement. That this does
not last is not surprising, for they no longer possess the organs
necessary for self-maintenance.
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