Plato: Immortality of the Soul
PHAEDO: IMMORTALITY OF SOUL
In the dialogue Phaedo Plato discusses the immortality of the soul. He presents four different arguments to prove the fact that although the body of the human perishes after death; the soul still exists and remains eternal. Firstly, he explains the Argument from Opposites that is about the forms and their existence in opposite forms. His second argument is Theory of Recollection which assumes that each and every information that one has in his/her mind is related to information and plays an important role in remembering. While trying to convince his readers, Plato proposes another argument claiming that the soul and the body are different forms. While the body is visible and mortal, the soul is invisible and immortal. He suggests that although the body dies and decays, the soul continues to exist. This is called Affinity Argument. Lastly, Plato uses his most convincing argument to prove the immortality of the soul. In this argument Plato uses his Theory of Forms. He explains that every quality participate in its form.
In his first argument Argument from Opposites, Plato explores the idea of life and death and their relation to each other. He declares that there is a cycle which allows everything to come out of its opposite. He suggests that: “Between each of those pairs of opposites there are two processes: from the one to the other and then again from the other to the first” (71b). He tries to emphasize that “living comes from the dead and the dead from living” (72b). Therefore, after one dies, the soul does not cease to exist. The soul continues to live and comes to life again. After clearing his thoughts on opposites, he begins his theory of recollection. He uses this theory in order to convince his readers in believing that the soul is immortal and has already existed before coming to the world. He suggests that human beings recollect what they have forgotten during birth. He says that “Our souls existed apart from the body
In the dialogue Phaedo Plato discusses the immortality of the soul. He presents four different arguments to prove the fact that although the body of the human perishes after death; the soul still exists and remains eternal. Firstly, he explains the Argument from Opposites that is about the forms and their existence in opposite forms. His second argument is Theory of Recollection which assumes that each and every information that one has in his/her mind is related to information and plays an important role in remembering. While trying to convince his readers, Plato proposes another argument claiming that the soul and the body are different forms. While the body is visible and mortal, the soul is invisible and immortal. He suggests that although the body dies and decays, the soul continues to exist. This is called Affinity Argument. Lastly, Plato uses his most convincing argument to prove the immortality of the soul. In this argument Plato uses his Theory of Forms. He explains that every quality participate in its form.
In his first argument Argument from Opposites, Plato explores the idea of life and death and their relation to each other. He declares that there is a cycle which allows everything to come out of its opposite. He suggests that: “Between each of those pairs of opposites there are two processes: from the one to the other and then again from the other to the first” (71b). He tries to emphasize that “living comes from the dead and the dead from living” (72b). Therefore, after one dies, the soul does not cease to exist. The soul continues to live and comes to life again. After clearing his thoughts on opposites, he begins his theory of recollection. He uses this theory in order to convince his readers in believing that the soul is immortal and has already existed before coming to the world. He suggests that human beings recollect what they have forgotten during birth. He says that “Our souls existed apart from the body