ipl-logo

Plato's Argument On Why The Soul Is Alive

524 Words3 Pages

In the Republic, Plato gives an argument saying the soul is immortal. In this paper I will present his argument and show that his argument is invalid. I will show why the conclusion is not true and restate the argument to make it valid to help with Socrates’ claim. Plato’s argument on why the soul is immortal:
1. Something can only be destroyed by the thing that is bad for it.
2. Injustice, licentiousness, cowardice, and lack of learning are bad for the soul.
3. Injustice or other vices do not destroy the soul.
4. Therefore, the soul is immortal. This argument is invalid because the conclusion does not agree with the premises. The premises all follow one another and make sense. The conclusion does not agree with the …show more content…

By including what immortality covers the argument makes sense talking about nonliving things and living things. As stated before, for nonliving things the argument would not would very well. I think just by including premise number two the argument became stronger and is now valid. In the Republic Socrates’ explained how injustice and other vices are bad for a soul, so I do not believe an argument could be made against how they could not destroy the soul. I think adding this premise makes the argument valid and sound. Socrates’ original argument was not valid or sound. The premises were corrected but the argument needed another premise to make the conclusion true. Adding premise two takes away any confusion there was to what immortality meant. Since Socrates’ spent almost the entire book creating a just person and a just city the information about what is good and bad for a soul makes sense. It also makes sense that those things cannot destroy the soul because injustice and other vices could only lead the body to make poor choices and possibly get sick or die from those poor choices. The soul would not get affected by those choices or by the death of the

Show More
Related

Book Thief Death Quotes

759 Words | 4 Pages

Death taking a being's life is no different than breathing is for a

Read More

Analysis Of Clarence Darrow's The Myth Of The Soul

745 Words | 3 Pages

In response to the long-standing philosophical question of immorality, many philosophers have posited the soul criterion, which asserts the soul constitutes personal identity and survives physical death. In The Myth of the Soul, Clarence Darrow rejects the existence of the soul in his case against the notion of immortality and an afterlife. His primary argument against the soul criterion is that no good explanation exists for how a soul enters a body, or when its beginning might occur. (Darrow 43) After first explicating Darrow 's view, I will present what I believe is its greatest shortcoming, an inconsistent use of the term soul, and argue that this weakness impacts the overall strength of his argument.

Read More

Socrates Vs. Unjust One In Plato's The Republic

643 Words | 3 Pages

Then, it follows that a just soul and a just man will live well, and an unjust one badly. The argument at first glance seems to be valid and sound. But not all of the premises appear to be true, and given that all the

Read More

Arguments For Plato's Apology

376 Words | 2 Pages

This is an example of false dilemma because he only stated there were only two options when one will die. Although this may not be true, explains about going to another world to live the life he never had. The other part of the theory justifies if one dies and is in a state of unconsciousness

Read More

Socrates Argumentative Analysis

1225 Words | 5 Pages

In Plato’s dialogue Phaedo, he explains the soul and comes to the conclusion that the soul is immortal. Through describing the last hours of Socrates life before his execution, he lays out three arguments in support of the idea that while the body may cease to exist the soul cannot perish. In this paper, I will explicate Socrates three arguments for the immortality of the soul and their objections. Then I will argue on the presupposition of the Law of Conservation of Mass, that the universe, entailing the soul, must be cyclical. The Law of Conservation of Mass

Read More

The Final Argument Of Plato's Phaedo

411 Words | 2 Pages

However, the number three cannot ever be even for it holds a natural form of oddity that cannot be changed, the same is found with immortality. A soul cannot admit to death, which is the opposite of its essence immortality just as the number three cannot admit to being even. Leading to Plato’s conclusion of how a soul then must have to retreat, connecting back to Socrates believing death is best characterized by the soul separating from

Read More

Fear Of Death In Plato's Apology

1115 Words | 5 Pages

In Plato’s Apology, Socrates is put into trial because he is accused of corrupting the youth with his teachings that deviate from the established beliefs of the Greek society. Although he justifies that he is only doing what he believes is his duty, he reasons that even if he is given a death penalty, death is nothing to be feared. He raises multiple strong and effective arguments that explain to his audience that it is illogical to fear death. All of these arguments revolves around the central idea that death is not evil and that “no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death” (Apology, 41c). The first argument that Socrates presents during his trial is the idea that death is not the most important thing to worry about in

Read More

What Is Socrates Reason Of Losing A Human Soul After Death

183 Words | 1 Pages

I would also says that since the friends are on that level of uncertainty as to what exactly will happen to a human's soul after death, I don't think they feel

Read More

Materialist Vs Dualist

370 Words | 2 Pages

Discussing the existence of a soul and an afterlife can be a controversial subject, because frankly, as humans we do not know what lies beyond the body’s material form. Materialists argue that once the body is dead, it is the end. Everything we know is material and we are material beings, therefore there is nothing to move on to an afterlife. Dualists, however, take on a different perspective. Although our bodies are material, there is something else that lies within us.

Read More

Alcibiades Plato Analysis

1013 Words | 5 Pages

Socrates in the dialogue Alcibiades written by Plato provides an argument as to why the self is the soul rather than the body. In this dialogue Alcibiades and Socrates get into a discussion on how to cultivate the self which they both mutually agree is the soul, and how to make the soul better by properly taking care of it. One way Socrates describes the relationship between the soul and the body is by analogy of user and instrument, the former being the entity which has the power to affect the latter. In this paper I will explain Socrates’ arguments on why the self is the soul and I will comment on what it means to cultivate it.

Read More

The Four Arguments For The Existence Of The Soul In Socrates '

1951 Words | 8 Pages

I do believe that the soul is immortal, in the sense that it can live on within the universe but the soul can not truly live on without a body to possess. The only argument of Socrates’ that I do believe to be true is the Argument of Opposites. Socrates’ implied that once we die, we don’t often stay dead infant we come back to life after a period of time. Which this goes hand and hand with the theory of reincarnation. Reincarnation comes from the religion of Buddhism and its the belief that the soul, when the body once dies comes back to earth as another body or form.

Read More

Argument Of Opposites In Plato's 'Phaedo'

633 Words | 3 Pages

In Plato’s, Phaedo, one of the arguments that Socrates makes for justifying his theory about the soul being immortal is the argument of opposites. The argument of opposites is found from 70c to 72c in the Phaedo. The argument is not logically valid as there are a few fallacies that occur with the definition of opposites with which Socrates defines his argument. This argument ultimately fails at being logically valid as contrary to premise 1, all things that have an opposite do not come from only their opposites. Socrates also does not specify in this argument whether he is referring to the soul dying or the body dying in the final premises.

Read More

Exemplification Essay: Plato's View On Death

1005 Words | 5 Pages

Plato’s view on death According to Plato, Socrates didn’t fear death. He stopped fearing death when God ordered him to live the life of a philosopher. “No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of all evils.” He says that this is just as bad as thinking that you’re wise, when you’re actually not.

Read More

Plato's Republic: Just Or Unjust?

832 Words | 4 Pages

The just person’s soul entails motive for certain kinds of objects the most important of which is knowledge. Socrates describes the hardship and extreme effort required to gain knowledge of the forms and the form of the good, thus the just person will seek learning and not spend time to take care of the satisfaction of desires that typically lead to unjust actions. This approach to unite the gap between a just soul and just actions may have some drawbacks. One negative aspect may be that several unjust actions may be motivated by desires that are compatible with the desire for knowledge. For example, why wouldn’t a person with a great fascination for knowledge steal a book if it would contribute to their

Read More

Brahman Is The Universal Soul In Hinduism

760 Words | 4 Pages

From Hinduism point of view, the soul is a part of jiva. The limited being, who is subject to the impurities of attachment, delusion, and laws of karma. Therefore, death for them is not a calamity but a natural process in the existence of a jiva or a being as a separate entity, a resting period for it to recuperates, reassembles its resources, adjust its course and returns to the earth to continue its

Read More

More about Plato's Argument On Why The Soul Is Alive

Related Topics

Open Document