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Similarities Between Socrates And Religious Beliefs

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Topic 2: Socrates and Religious Beliefs

Introduction
In Phaedo, Socrates asserts a number of claims regarding the existence and nature of the afterlife and the immortality and reincarnation of the soul. I will be contrasting and comparing Socrates beliefs with those of the Jewish faith. Socrates gives four arguments for the immortality of the soul and recounts a myth of the afterlife. Those of the Jewish faith also believe in the immortality and reincarnation of the soul. They believe that the righteous go to the Olam Ba-Ha in the afterlife, a place of spiritual perfection, while the wicked are punished and excluded from the Olam Ba-Ha. Socrates views and the beliefs of those of the Jewish faith are actually quite similar. However, I am of the opinion that one ought to favour the beliefs of Judaism.

Phaedo
Phaedo revolves around Socrates discussion of the existence and nature of the afterlife. The soul’s immortality is one of the predominant themes in Phaedo. In the dialogue between Socrates and his friends/philosophers, they discuss four arguments for the immortality of the soul to illustrate and attempt to prove the concept of the afterlife. The afterlife is the place where the soul supposedly goes after we die. The four arguments are: The Opposites Argument, The Theory of …show more content…

He asserts that the unvarying and invisible Forms are the cause of all things that exist. He claims that all things have the qualities they do because they participate in certain Forms. The example he gives is that beautiful things participate in the Form of Beauty and are only beautiful because of their participation in this Form. Analogously, the soul participates in the Form of Life. It therefore follows that the soul can never die, it is immortal. He states that the Form of Life is a crucial element of the soul and that it is unimaginable to think of the soul as ever being anything but

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