The present work is an attempt to analyse critically Plato's views on
mind and body and more particularly on the mind-body relationship within
the wider setting of Plato's metaphysics. We seek to achieve this by a
philosophical examination"-of the dialogues on the basis of a generally
accepted order (some revision of this order is a by-product of our
examination). Strictly speaking "soul" ought perhaps to be substituted
for "mind" in the above. But it seems to be in terms of "mind" that
modern philosophers deal with and refer to the problem that Plato
tackled (mainly) in terms of psyche, and as it is part of the motivation
for dealing with Plato's treatment that it is of importance for the
modern debate, it has been felt necessary to stress the rough identity*
of the problem in the title of the book (and in the Introduction, in the
title of Part Three and a few other places). Below this superordinate
level we try to keep "mind" as a translation typically of nous and
"soul" as a translation of psyche.