Psyché: da “vero sé” a struttura del cosmo. La nozione di anima da Socrate all’Accademia platonica antica

Throughout the history of philosophy, the term “soul” stands out as one of the most recurrent and extensively discussed concepts. The notion is already present in the Homeric poems and the Orphic-Pythagorean movements, but it acquires particular relevance with Socrates, who makes it the focus of his philosophical mission, fundamental for ethics even without a precise definition of its nature. Notably, it is within the philosophical framework crafted by Plato that the soul is granted a definitive ontological structure and a designated role within the cosmos, in particular with the introduction of the World Soul. Speusippus and Xenocrates appear to have directed their attention predominantly towards the metaphysical dimensions of Platonic doctrine and its conception of the World Soul. Yet, upon reexamination of their theories, a discernible coherence emerges between their psychological viewpoints and the ethical-political objectives intrinsic to the Socratic-Platonic tradition.