 The importance of this account is that it is a moral psychology, an account of the soul which serves as a basis for explaining the virtues. Socrates’ account also introduces the idea that there is conflict in the soul. For instance, the appetites can lead one toward pleasure which reason recognizes is not good for the whole soul. In cases of conflict, Socrates says the spirited part sides with reason against appetite. Here we see in rough outline the chief characters in a well-known moral drama. Reason knows what is good both for oneself and in the treatment of others. The appetites, short-sighted and self-centered, pull in the opposite direction. The spirited part is the principle that sides with reason and enforces its decrees.