Essay Philosophy: Socrates and Soul

Submitted By bugfranklin3
Words: 1078
Pages: 5
Open Document
PHIL 1001: Human Nature
Reading Guide #2

Plato’s Phaedo

What is the scene like when Phaedo and Crito first arrive to see Socrates?
Socrates is sentenced to death
He is unchained because it is the day of his execution. He is lying in his bed with his friends and followers at his side.
Socrates’ wife and son are by his side, hysterical
Socrates begins to tell stories based on Aesop’s Fables
Oddly, Plato is removed from the discussion he is “sick.”

According to Socrates, why shouldn’t we kill ourselves?
It is not “lawful”
Killing ourselves would be disobeying the Gods
We are but possessions of the caretakers
Humans desire to be good and death is only acceptable when Gods permit it.

Why is a philosopher willing to die?
By dying, you achieve wisdom
The philosopher can escape the body which is misleading

Does the soul find truth through the body, or by some other means?
The soul finds truth when it is detached from the body, in a former time
When it is joined with the body, it is distracted by the body’s needs and senses.

Is the philosopher courageous?
No, the philosopher is not courageous because he does not fear Fear itself so they do not have to overcome that feeling.
Philosophers are not controlled by limbs, but are rather guided by arguments
They are not motivated by fears and emotions

What is the argument from Contraries?
The essential argument is that:
Contraries come from contraries
The contrary of being alive is being dead
The dead come from the living
The living come from the dead
If the living come from the dead, they must exist somewhere (soul)
This is the argument that there is a continuous re-emergence of life and death is not the end of all things

What is the argument from Recollection?
Main argument is that learning is from previous experience
If we recollect it is from previous experience
When we see “equal” sticks, we recollect “The Equal” (the form of the Equal)
No previous bodily experience is of the “The Equal”
Therefore our experience of “The Equal” is non-bodily
We have non-bodily experiences, we must have been alive before having a body
Therefore, we were alive before we had a body (our soul)
This tries to prove that soul and body can exist separately
Soul can survive death

What is the affinity argument (argument from invisibility)?
The affinity argument is the association of the soul to be divine, immortal, invisible, incomposite, and invariable and the body to be corporeal, mortal, visible, composite, and variable. When the soul uses the body for knowledge, it only sees the variable aspects of the world and thus become confused of what to know. This leads to the conclusion that the soul only knows truth when it is separated from the body after death.

What is the Lyre analogy?
The Lyre analogy is that the Body is like the Lyre and the Souls is like the tuning of the Lyre.
The tuning is invisible, bodiless, beautiful and divine
The Lyre itself is a composite of strings and wood
The soul is like a tuning, a blend of opposites into a harmony
But the tuning of the lyre is destroyed when the lyre is broken
Therefore, if the body breaks the soul is destroyed
Tune : Lyre :: Soul : Body
Argument by Analogy (epiphenomenalism)

What is the Weaver Analogy?
The Weaver Analogy is a general counter-argument that the soul continues after separation from body
Soul is not inferior to a body
Weaver is not inferior to a cloak
Weaver outlasts many cloaks he makes
But the weaver will not outlast his last cloak
Therefore the weaver can perish if he is stronger and more noble than the cloak
The soul might have many bodies, but it will wear out
Souls might survive death of the body, but it will continue to survive the death over and over?
Leads to scandal and self-doubt
Weaver : Cloak :: Soul : Body

What is misology?
Misology is the hate of reason

How does Socrates respond to the Lyre Analogy?
He does not want people to
Show More

Related Documents: Essay Philosophy: Socrates and Soul

The Superiority Of The Soul Essay

1418234 TA: Rich “The Superiority of The Soul” In Phaedo Plato, famous philosopher Socrates spoke about his theory of the soul during the morning of his execution. Socrates believed that the soul existed prior to one’s birth and that it will still exist after one’s death; this is meant that all philosophers needed to avoid the sensual pleasures of life and focus their minds on their souls. Socrates stated that a true philosopher knows that the soul is superior and enslaves the body. His explanations…

Words 1356 - Pages 6

Essay about Philosophy 160

Study Guide for Introduction to Philosophy Midterm 1. What does “philosophy” literally mean? Philosophy literally means the love of wisdom 2. What do the terms, epistemology, metaphysics and ontology mean? Epistemology means the nature of knowledge, Metaphysics is the nature of ultimate reality i.e. god, soul, and substance. Ontology is the ‘what is, how it is, and what makes it what it is’ form of philosophy. 3. Who were the Sophists? What characteristics define them? Sophists are wandering…

Words 895 - Pages 4

Socrates The Apology Analysis

by Plato, Socrates is a man on trial for impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. In the Athenian justice system, over 500 jurors are faced with deciding Socrates’ fate. Throughout the trial Socrates uses “harm” differently than others and states that even death would not harm him. In this paper, I will argue against the claim that death can’t harm him because his argument rests on two premises that are not true. Socrates does not give an exact definition of “harm.” I believe Socrates uses “harm”…

Words 1192 - Pages 5

Plato Gorgias Paper

you die tomorrow” (Hilal). This quote outlines one of the basic beliefs of the Muslim religion: All people have the choice to act justly or unjustly, but they must one day be held responsible for their choices. Their faith contests that when dead, souls remain in a sleep-like state until judgment day, when Allah will determine their fate by their actions on Earth. In fact, most religions believe in a form of afterlife. The Christian faith, too, believes in an eternal life based on a judgment of one’s…

Words 1475 - Pages 6

Compare And Contrast Polus And Socrates

When Socrates says, “knowledge and belief are not the same . . .” and then goes on to say, “both those who have learned and those who believe have been persuaded” (454 d - e), he attempts to get to the root of what rhetoric is. Essentially, rhetoric is not required to be based in fact. While it is true that some rhetoric may be based wholly on fact and can be used to persuade those who have learned, it is also true that it can be based on belief. Whether or not the topic at hand is belief or fact…

Words 494 - Pages 2

Phaedo 2 Essays

famous Greek philosopher Plato, is a dialogue recounting the events and discussions of Socrates’ final moments before his sentenced death from the well-known trial recognized as The Apology. During this time, Socrates explains to his friends that acquiring knowledge comes from a recollection of things in a previous life as a way to provide comfort to his friends about his anticipated death. According to Socrates, if humans can learn anything, they must have known about what it is they are learning…

Words 626 - Pages 3

Essay about Plato Phaedo READING

Plato Phaedo Penguin Classics. Translated by Christopher Rowe. 74b-84b 'Well, then,' said Socrates, 'see what you think of the following. We say, I suppose, that there's something that's equal – I don't mean a stick that's equal to a stick, or a stone that's equal to a stone, or anything like that, but some further thing over and above all of these, that is, the equal itself: are we to say that something of the sort exists,1 or not?' 'Zeus! Yes,' said Simmias; 'indeed we are, most emphatically…

Words 9817 - Pages 40

Socrates and Soul Essay

Questions-Plato’s Phaedo 1. Whether Phaedo was with Socrates when he drank the poison or if he had heard it from someone else. “Phaedo, were you with Socrates when he drank the poison or did you hear about it from somebody else?” Mystery, death. 2. Philosopher, Socratic Method. Maybe he had a different outlook on death and never knew what Socrates would do. 3. Myth about sacrificing youths (14) to the Minotaur. Socrates would be a sacrifice, Phaedo would be Theseus (survives), Minotaur…

Words 1603 - Pages 7

Analysis Of Letter From Birmingham Jail By Martin Luther King, Jr.

For Socrates, philosophy is to self-examine and cross-examine others, stating that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Apology 9). He believes that through the practice of elenchus, one can examine their knowledge more deeply, and eventually come to appreciate virtue, justice, and truth. In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. practices philosophy according to Socrates through the avocation of the use of elenchus. He believes that segregation is unjust because it “distorts…

Words 248 - Pages 1

Socrates, Philosophy and the Good Life Essay

Socrates, Philosophy and the Good Life Socrates' belief was that he was called on by the Gods to live his life examining others and himself. He believed the necessity of doing what one thinks is right even in the face of universal opposition, and the need to pursue knowledge even when opposed. "I became completely convinced, to the duty of leading the philosophical life by examining myself and others."¹ Socrates believed that to desert this idea was ridiculous and would make his life absurd…

Words 2627 - Pages 11