n his earlier dialogues, especially in the Phaedo, Plato was inclined to see all appetites and emotions outside the reasoning part as taking place in the body. The soul–body dichotomy embodied a distinction between the functions of the immortal rational soul and the mortal and irrational parts of human beings (Phaedo 66b–c). It is part of Plato’s early asceticism that he did not find anything positive in the desires and passions of the body. The philosopher was understood to aim at detachment from them as much as possible (Phaedo 66e–67a). 2 In the Republic and some other middle dialogues, Plato treats desires and emotions as movements of the soul, and his attitude towards them is slightly different from that found in the Phaedo.