Plato’s Phaedo is a philosophical work that takes the form of a dialogue between Socrates and a group of his acquaintances, including Thebans, Cebes and Simmias. The dialogue is told from the perspective of Phaeton, a student of Socrates’, and in the work Socrates and his friends discuss a number of theories and topics, including The Cycle of Opposites Argument, The Theory of Recollection, The Exclusion of Opposites, and the Affinity Argument. Through the use of the mentioned theories, Plato illustrates the supposed nature of the soul, and attempts to form an argument as to why it must persist perpetually. Two primary ideas Plato uses in the work to argue for the immortality of the soul are the Cycle of Opposites Argument, and The Exclusion of Opposites. The Cycle of Opposites
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The theory states that a thing can never admit to be the opposite of what it is. For example, an odd number can never be even, and vice-verse. Socrates expresses this in the dialogue by saying, “not only do we find the opposites that we spoke of refusing to admit each other, but all things which, while not mutually opposed, always possess opposites, themselves likewise appear not to admit the character which is opposite to that contained in themselves; when that character advances on them they either withdraw or perish” (190). In this, Socrates communicates the idea that in order for things to go through a process of change, their opposites need to either cease to be, or become unperceivable by the senses. For example, in order for an object to be moving at what can be considered a fast speed, it cannot be perceived by one’s sight that it is moving slow. The same is true for an object moving slowly; in order for its speed to be perceived as slow, the opposite fast cannot be present. Socrates goes on in the dialogue to use this to attempt to prove the immortality of the
The theory states that a thing can never admit to be the opposite of what it is. For example, an odd number can never be even, and vice-verse. Socrates expresses this in the dialogue by saying, “not only do we find the opposites that we spoke of refusing to admit each other, but all things which, while not mutually opposed, always possess opposites, themselves likewise appear not to admit the character which is opposite to that contained in themselves; when that character advances on them they either withdraw or perish” (190). In this, Socrates communicates the idea that in order for things to go through a process of change, their opposites need to either cease to be, or become unperceivable by the senses. For example, in order for an object to be moving at what can be considered a fast speed, it cannot be perceived by one’s sight that it is moving slow. The same is true for an object moving slowly; in order for its speed to be perceived as slow, the opposite fast cannot be present. Socrates goes on in the dialogue to use this to attempt to prove the immortality of the