Phaedo Analysis Essay

Phaedo Analysis

In Plato's Phaedo, Plato describes a philosophically dialogue inside a dialogue. In the beginning Echecartes talks to Plato and wants to know about Socrates death. Plato then argues whether the soul will ever die or always continue to exist and that it will go on to a better place but it will never die. The account begins when Socrates proposes that though suicide is not the right way to end your life and also that by taking your life is disrespectful to the gods, but that he also argues that the soul is immortal and indestructible. The argument is contrary to Cebes and Simmias who argue the soul of an individual is long lasting, it is mortal and is destroyed when the body dies. This paper describes Plato's four arguments for

He argues that all things which "come to be" and have an opposite must necessarily come from their opposite and nowhere else. There are two processes in "coming to be." For example, 'fast' comes from "slow" and the process to be fast is to "speed up." So the process of living to being dead is 'dying'. The other process is going from being dead to being alive is called "coming to life". In this case, the souls of the living come from the dead and thus the souls of men who died must exist in the underworld.

Whether the souls of the living are immortal or destructible could also be argued in the following manner. We must understand the definition of 'Death' in Platos case 'Death' is the "separation of the soul from the body." (64c) The soul is a fundamental form of 'Life' and the opposite is the form of 'Death'. So the soul cannot be in the form of 'Death' so the soul can never die. Therefore, the soul is immortal and indestructible and continues to exist after

Plato describes how learning is recollection and the soul exists even before birth. We must all know that 'Equal' and if we experience two equal things such as two stones that are equals, we know that the stones are not the 'Equal' itself. So the knowledge of 'Equal' is something that was not learned, but recollected. If we know the knowledge of 'Equal' is recollection, then our souls must have existed before its embodiment.

The third argument is seen in the argument of our soul from scattering. (78b-84b) The soul is similar to other forms that do not scatter. If the soul is unlikely to scatter then it will most definitely survive death. "The soul is similar to the divine, and the body resembles the mortal" so it must be expected that the soul is everlasting. (80b) Even the body, which is destructible, could survive death so it is likely that the eternal soul is indestructible. The survival of the body is the proof of survival of the