Four Arguments for the Immortality of the Human Soul Presented by Plato in the Phaedo.
In Plato's Phaedo, he argues that the soul will continue to exist, and that it will go on to a better place. The argument begins on the day of his execution with the question of whether it is good or bad to die. In other words, he is arguing that the soul is immortal and indestructible. This argument is contrary to Cebes and Simmias who argue that even the soul is long lasting, it is not immortal and it is destroyed when the body dies. This paper focuses on Plato's four arguments for immortality of the human soul and his counter arguments to Cebes and Simmias' arguments. The first argument for the immortality of the soul can be seen in the argument of souls from opposites (70b-72d). He argues that all things which "come to be" and which have an opposite must necessarily come to be from their opposite and nowhere else. If opposite come to be from their opposites then there must be two processes of coming to be. For example, 'fast' come from 'slow' and
Whether the souls of men are immortal or destructible can also be argued in the following manner. Before that, we have to understand the definition of 'Death'. According to Plato, 'Death' is the "separation of the soul from the body." (64c) The soul is a fundamental form of 'Life' and the opposite form of 'Life' is the form of 'Death'. So, it is not possible for the soul to be in the form of 'Death' and hence the soul cannot die. Therefore, we can say that the soul is immortal or indestructible and continues to exist. The second argument for the immortality of the soul can be seen in the argument from recollection (72e-76e). Plato assumes that learning is recollection and that the soul exists even before birth. We all know the 'Equal' and when we experience two equal things such as two equal stones, we know that the stones are not the 'Equal' itself. Thus, the knowledge of 'Equal' is something that we did not learn, but recollected. If knowledge of
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Approximate Word count = 644
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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