Socrates had a strong feeling of dislike towards the body and the effect it had on the soul. He believed that the body gets in the way of knowledge and is the cause of the most of our problems. The body perceives objects in the world and that is where it runs into problems. The body concerns itself with material things. He believed that the body was, in essence, a shield that the mind gave off as a cover of what it wanted people to see.

In the book Phaedo, Socrates shows how he connects the mind to the body. He believes that the soul is eternal and immutable compared to the inferior and mutable b

In the book he discusses three kinds of lust that include the body. The first is sensual lust, which is having the lust for everything you can. The second is the lust for domination (pride), which is an overall desire to control. The third lust is the lust of the eyes (senses), which is a curiosity or a liking to watch. "They indulge a burning lust for'that use which is contrary to nature' " (book 3 16). In lust the body takes control of the soul.

Augustine has the belief that the body is an instrument that will lead us to sin. Sin begins when people get caught up in material things. It becomes sin when we forget to use these material things to point to God. He shows this in the book because he didn't look at God he looked at the material things in the world around him. He believes in theodicy, the presence of evil with a good god. He believes that physical things are beautiful because they come from god, but become evil when they are not used to get to god. Augustine proves this in the book in the pear-stealing scene. "Even if we ate a few, nevertheless our pleasure lay in doing what was not allowed" (book2-9).

Augustine believes that the only things that become bad are originally good. "Where then does it come from since the good God made everything good" (book7 7)? Over time physical things can wear out or change and that is how they become evil. In the book he has the problem that sex, or his body is keeping him down. He teaches that reason should take over and lead us back to god. Passion will not allow you to think passionately and reason will take over the body. Our suffering evil is justice acting upon us.

The views of Socrates and Augustine are alike in many ways but also very different. They are both in full belief that the body is evil. Socrates feels that the body is one big mass of evil. Augustine, however, believes that the body is good, turns evil, and then is returned to goodness. Socrates does not believe

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Approximate Word count = 1327
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)