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Socrates Reflection Paper

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An insight Socrates offers about the self is that there is a conflict between the soul and the body. The soul, which aspires for goodness and pure knowledge, truth, and courage, is weighed down by the body, which is concerned with the less divine and pure pleasures of the earth. It desires objects of lust, sex, and greed, which are physical. These desires chain down the soul, and prevent it from moving towards ultimate goodness and truth after the death of the physical body. As the soul leaves the body, it moves on to another body. Depending on the level of goodness and purity the soul participated in during the life of the physical body, the soul enters a new being which can go from an ant (if one has led a life of evil), or a human again, …show more content…

Or would they have to be taught of this, as with other information they can recollect in an experience such as Deja-vu. I ask this because I wonder how Socrates can be so sure about the immortality of the soul. When I experience Deja-vu, I feel like the moment I am remembering comes from the same life that I am currently living, but at an earlier time. It also seems to only be arbitrary events that just seem extremely familiar. How does one know what the difference between what the soul desires and what the body desires? Socrates claims that the immortal soul is searching for an ultimate wisdom and good, while the mortal body has only desires of the physical earth. How does the soul know to search for the ultimate truth? Does an individual reach this objective through process of thought, or is it only taught to them? I would like to know because it seems that few people are philosophers, and if the ultimate goal of the soul (rhyme not intended) is to reach the ultimate truth, then why would so many individuals not have the idea or teachings to give them the chance to attempt to become a philosopher? Did their soul turn to evil thousands of years ago and the individual just doesn’t know

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