Socrates Idea Of The Soul In Phaedo By Plato
Phaedo, a story written by Plato, is actually an account of how the death of Socrates went about. This fictitious story written from Phaedo’s point of view is used by Plato to detail his ideas of life and death, but through the perspective of Socrates on his final day. By emphasizing that in fact Plato was not there when this happened, he makes it clear that this is his speculation and not a true story. Nevertheless, there is a lot to learn about Socrates’ (and Plato’s) idea of the soul from this reading. According to Phaedo, the soul is an eternal entity which detaches from the body that can be either good or bad, and this can be proven through the four arguments - Argument of Opposites, Theory of Recollection, Argument of Affinity, and the
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There can be no doubt that if these absolute ideas existed before we were born, then our souls must have existed before we were born, and if not the ideas, then not the souls. (Phaedo)
Socrates has effectively convinced those present that the soul must exist before life, but Simmias and Cebes point out he has not proven that it exists after death. Cebes specifically points out his theory that the soul is similar to that of a tuned instrument, through the idea that it can be tuned well (a good person) or poorly (a bad person) by the way we live. However, this theory refutes that because that would involve changing the soul’s knowledge, which was carried over before the person was even born. To prove his point further, Socrates moves on to talk about the Argument of …show more content…
When he originally was the one who drilled others with questions in order for them to recall their original statement, this procedure is now being attempted on him by his friends. Cebes and Simmias are poking holes into his idea of an immortal soul, while Socrates is proving himself to still be correct. Through this contrast we can see how Socrates has come to terms with death and accepts it happily, because he believes his life to be well lived. He spent his whole life questioning others and himself in order to find the true meaning of things, and his contented nature comments on how he believes he has been a success. He may not know the true meaning of things, but he knows that his quest to find them was what he was meant to do with his life – so he is hopeful for the
There can be no doubt that if these absolute ideas existed before we were born, then our souls must have existed before we were born, and if not the ideas, then not the souls. (Phaedo)
Socrates has effectively convinced those present that the soul must exist before life, but Simmias and Cebes point out he has not proven that it exists after death. Cebes specifically points out his theory that the soul is similar to that of a tuned instrument, through the idea that it can be tuned well (a good person) or poorly (a bad person) by the way we live. However, this theory refutes that because that would involve changing the soul’s knowledge, which was carried over before the person was even born. To prove his point further, Socrates moves on to talk about the Argument of …show more content…
When he originally was the one who drilled others with questions in order for them to recall their original statement, this procedure is now being attempted on him by his friends. Cebes and Simmias are poking holes into his idea of an immortal soul, while Socrates is proving himself to still be correct. Through this contrast we can see how Socrates has come to terms with death and accepts it happily, because he believes his life to be well lived. He spent his whole life questioning others and himself in order to find the true meaning of things, and his contented nature comments on how he believes he has been a success. He may not know the true meaning of things, but he knows that his quest to find them was what he was meant to do with his life – so he is hopeful for the