Souls Are Mortal or Immortal

Souls are mortal or immortal

In Plato’s Five Dialogues, the chapter Phaedo talked about Socrates’ death. Before he dies, his friends gathered at his cell. Socrates proved how philosophers should look forward to death. Nonetheless, he also claims that the human soul is immortal and how the life of philosophers spends on detaching themselves from the needs. He proposed three arguments to support his claims, which are known as the argument from the opposition, argument from recollection and evidence from affinity. Of course, not everyone agrees on his agreements, Simmias and Cebes objected. Therefore, Socrates’ and their arguments begin and lead into their deliberation.

Socrates began with his argument from opposition. He introduced an ancient theory of souls arriving, “that they arrive here and are born here from the dead” (70d). Socrates then uses a more general example. He used big and small as an example; when something is big, it must have come from something smaller than it. But when something is smaller, it will come from something larger before. These examples show how one is related to another, which leads to his conclusion on the opposition as “that the souls of the dead must be somewhere whence they can come back again” (72a). Which Socrates seems to mean that the living comes from the dead and the dead comes from the life.

The second arguments Socrates provided was the argument from recollection. Socrates genuinely believed that learning is a recollection, the soul must have preexisted to the modern living being to retrace its “memory.” This part of the argument, Socrates introduces “forms,” there does not seem to be a particular definition of the word “forms” Socrates refers to, but yet there is a broad range that forms. Socrates believed that soul existed before birth, which yet soul learn from the forms. Forms, in this case, refers to something that is intangible, divine, perfect; such as beauty, good, and truth. In this case, it links to how he believes, the soul and the body are two different entities, one did exist before life, so one is either one’s soul or body, and since the body clearly does after death, oneself must then be the soul.

Socrates then talks about his argument from affinity, which is about things that cannot be seen visually, things that are invisible, as well as things that are perishable, and material things.

The soul is something that will not composite, unlike the human body. The soul is something that controls the body. Socrates said, “even if the body decays, some parts of it, namely bones and sinews and the like, are nevertheless, one mighty say, deathless” (80d).

One of Socrates’ friend, Simmias,