Essay Two Plato - Meno and Phaedo
In reading the book Phaedo we experience the, final hours of Socrates who has been sentenced to death. Plato writes about friends who have come to bid farewell to the philosopher. The dialogue that ensues serves as the platform for a philosophical debate that primarily focuses on the soul. One of the visitors in attendance is a philosophy student of Socrates whose name is Cebes. Cebes objects to Socrates’ theory of the immortality of the soul. In the text he argues, “To prove that the soul is strong, that it is divine, that it existed before we were born as men, all this, you say, does not show the soul to be immortal but only long-lasting” (Phaedo 95d).
Socrates provides answers to Cebes’ argument through analogies. He explained how he had a love for learning the cause of …show more content…
He clung to the belief that “it is the Mind that directs and is the cause of everything.” (Phaedo 97c) The premise for this theory is that if you wish to know why something exists, you only need to investigate what is the best way for it to be (Phaedo 97d). Socrates later realized Anaxagoras contradicted his own theory by not citing the Mind as being responsible for the management of the things. This experience ever changed Socrates and he no longer found it necessary to investigate things in that manner and thus began his passion for philosophy. What Socrates was trying to show through this analogy is that we often rely on the thoughts of our own mind because it serves our needs best. Socrates suggested that the immortality of the soul argument brought by Cebes, only looks at what his mind conceived as best. Therefore, the notion of the soul being “long-lasting but not immortal” (Phaedo 95c) is what Cebes’ mind perceived as best. Socrates uses this parable as a stimulant to embolden his pupils to deeper
In reading the book Phaedo we experience the, final hours of Socrates who has been sentenced to death. Plato writes about friends who have come to bid farewell to the philosopher. The dialogue that ensues serves as the platform for a philosophical debate that primarily focuses on the soul. One of the visitors in attendance is a philosophy student of Socrates whose name is Cebes. Cebes objects to Socrates’ theory of the immortality of the soul. In the text he argues, “To prove that the soul is strong, that it is divine, that it existed before we were born as men, all this, you say, does not show the soul to be immortal but only long-lasting” (Phaedo 95d).
Socrates provides answers to Cebes’ argument through analogies. He explained how he had a love for learning the cause of …show more content…
He clung to the belief that “it is the Mind that directs and is the cause of everything.” (Phaedo 97c) The premise for this theory is that if you wish to know why something exists, you only need to investigate what is the best way for it to be (Phaedo 97d). Socrates later realized Anaxagoras contradicted his own theory by not citing the Mind as being responsible for the management of the things. This experience ever changed Socrates and he no longer found it necessary to investigate things in that manner and thus began his passion for philosophy. What Socrates was trying to show through this analogy is that we often rely on the thoughts of our own mind because it serves our needs best. Socrates suggested that the immortality of the soul argument brought by Cebes, only looks at what his mind conceived as best. Therefore, the notion of the soul being “long-lasting but not immortal” (Phaedo 95c) is what Cebes’ mind perceived as best. Socrates uses this parable as a stimulant to embolden his pupils to deeper