PHILOSOPHY PAPER

PLATO - PHAEDO

CONSTANCE CHUNG

24 April 2014

PHAEDO by PLATO

In this paper, I will examine the argument of opposites and recollection out of the big
four arguments to refute Socrates view on the immortality of soul. Whereas the
theory of recollection displays the soul must exist before death, and through the
argument from the opposites, Socrates attempted to prove soul must be born out of
death. Therefore, souls are immortal and a coherence between life and death.

Started from 70e, Socrates was introducing the argument of the opposites to further
his argument that being alive is the opposite of being dead by introducing
something smaller comes from something bigger and vice versa, and souls existed in
the underworld before it comes back to earth and reanimate another human body as
a circle. If there are no souls in the underworld, then there are no livings, therefore
soul must exist in the underworld. And the livings are born out of death.

This theory is established on a theory that the dead will reincarnate in human form
and walk on earth again, which was accepted as given by Cebes. But if we examine
the theory of the opposites that something must be come out from its opposite, then
it would work fine if souls lives on, and bodies dies, then souls are stuffed to another
vessel, and become another creature walk on earth again. Hence, souls is a constant,
a coherence between life and death process. But if vice versa, we test the theory from
the other side. Life came out from dead bodies whilst the soul demised, it would
become a fictional creature as we called zombie nowadays, and the argument would
be invalid.
A soul needs a vessel to come back to life. If the entire human races refrained from
reproduction or terminated entirely, whilst the souls in the Underworld are
increasing while the earth cant provide a vessel for them to come back. Its highly
unlikely God would make a person sprouted from the ground or rain human beings
to the earth. In my opinion, there are living beings so we have living beings is a
prerequisite and a paradox for the theory of opposite to work.

Despite on a hypothetical ground that soul does exist before and after our earthly life,
there is no argument provided to prove that Gods are recycling the used souls, and
the coherence of the soul. For example, questions like if Gods are recycling peoples
souls to new human beings, whats purpose of erasing our knowledge and devising
us to recollect them? Would it be more convincing if we consider theres a
contaminated souls landfill, and there are new souls cloning out of machine
everyday? And hence, people share certain knowledge, yet not from their previous
life, but programmed to be? Socrates theory only proved that different souls share
the same nature, but no verbal argument can prove that the soul reincarnated is the
same as the one previously dead. To prove this, you have to a tracking system on an
immaterial substance and track its previous life to its next life, or else, it is
improbable to discuss the coherence of soul.

To sum it up, through Socrates last words, the theory of opposite and recollection
established on the ground only if we took the pre-socratic period theory on soul

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PHILOSOPHY PAPER

PLATO - PHAEDO

CONSTANCE CHUNG

reincarnation as correct, then it can only prove that souls existence, but the
coherence is not a necessity, and hence immortality was uncertain as well.

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