Abstract
Following the idea of the two independent philosophical traditions attested by Diogenes Laertius (I,13) we can recognize two considerably different notions of the soul in the Pre-Platonic text evidence. In the Ionian tradition the soul (psuche) was viewed as a principle of life and gradually came to be regarded, in its psychological aspects, as a centre of emotions, hopes, character, speech, intellect, etc.
In the Italian tradition we can often find speculations about the immortal occult self (similar to the Homeric eschatological psuche), in some versions followed by the theory of reincarnation. No matter whether one called the self "eidolon", "daimon" or "psuche", it was always free of any psychological contexts.
The article argues that Plato was the first thinker who intentionally combined the two originally incommensurable notions of the soul.