Various Phases of "Willing" in Plato's Republic

It is well known that in his Republic Plato says that a human soul has three parts and each of them has a unique 'desire' However, it is one thing for each part of a human soul to have its own desire or pleasure, and another thing for a whole person to will something The purpose of my paper is to clarify how and what a whole persons, especially an unjust person, is willing In section 1, I take up a sentence in Book 9, which says 'It is also true that the ruling principle of people's souls is in some cases this part and in others one of the other two, as it may happen (581b12-c1)' In this sentence, 'this part' indicates the wisdom-loving part, and 'the other two' are therefore 'the victory-loving part' and 'the gain-loving part' The problem is that the second half of this sentence can be interpreted in two ways the first interpretation is that the ruling part of some people is the victory-loving part and that of others is the gain-loving part, the second interpretation is that the ruling part of some people is in some times the victory-loving part and in other occasions the gain-loving part Which interpretation is more reasonable In section 2,I analyze the process of how an oligarchic person degenerates to a democrat, and finally to a tyrannic person In my view, this process, as the process of degeneration of states is necessary, is also a necessary one in a sense that an oligarchic person has latently the inclination to be a tyrannic person This analysis indicates that the first interpretation is right In section 3, however, I argue that the second interpretation is also true by pointing out the feature of a tyrannic person's soul His soul, according to Plato, is a battlefield of the victory-loving part and the gain-loving part This means that the ruling part of a tyrannic person's soul is at some time the victory-loving part and at another time the gain-loving part These arguments show that while human soul has three parts, two of them confront each other, when confronted, and either of the two defeats the other, then finally rules the whole person In this way, a whole person, who has a tripartite soul, comes to will one thing In section 4,I confirm this feature especially in unjust persons, and try to find out how one can resist the desire of the two parts-the victory-loving and the gain-loving-of one's soul It is the wisdom-loving part (to logistikon) that can resist the desires of the other two parts, and this resistance is relevant and required to be a just person