Summary of the IMMORTALITY of the soul in PLATO

In this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a brief summary of the immortality of the soul in Plato. This philosopher, like the rest of the Greek philosophers, understood the soul as that principle that animates bodies and endows them with life and dynamism. But the difference is that for Plato, the soul has a divine character, and therefore, it is immortal. It is the rational principle through which it is possible to get to know the truth and virtue. It is the most excellent part of the human being. The philosopher, exposes the peculiar theory of his soul in the famous dialogues of him Phaedo and Phaedrus. If you want to know more about the Platonic conception of the soul, continue reading this article by a PROFESSOR.

There is no doubt that the Platonic theory about the immortality of the soul has its origin in the Orphic tradition and the Pythagoreans, which considerably influenced his anthropological dualism, according to which, the human being was composed of body and soul

. The body would be the corruptible, changeable and mortal part. Conversely, the soul is the most excellent part of the human beingIt is related to the divine and is immortal. After the death of the body, the soul separates from it to return to its rightful place.

Pythagoras He affirmed that the soul was purified as it was reincarnated in different bodies. For the Samos philosopher and his school, the soul or Psyché it's a Daimon, he was expelled from the realm of the gods and must strive to return. Through pain and suffering, the soul becomes aware of the need to evolve. And this is only learned through knowledge, and with it, all reincarnations will finally end, which are nothing more than an opportunity, for the human being to recover his own divinity.

In the work of Diogenes Laertius We find the following words regarding Pythagoras:

“There was among them a man of extraordinary knowledge, dominator, more than anyone, of all kinds of wisdom techniques, who had acquired an immense treasure in his diaphragm; when he put in tension all the force of his diaphragm, he effortlessly managed to visualize in detail the things of ten or twenty generations of men ”.

The purification is achieved through reincarnation and it is the proof that, it is not chance or destinyHomer and Hesiod), but a supreme power, the one that governs the order of the world. This argument will be used by Plato to develop his own theory of the soul and from there, a political doctrine to restore order in Greece at the time.

For Plato the soul is the one that gives life and movement to the bodies of living beings. In the case of human beings, the soul is a divine and immortal principle, thanks to which, knowledge and virtuous life is possible.

Plato distinguishes in the human soul three parts in the human soul:

• Rational Soul. It is the most excellent part of the human being, immortal and in relation to divinity. Therefore, it is what empowers the individual to come to know the truth and the good.
• Irascible Soul. This is the part of the soul that is related to value.
• Concupiscible Soul. It is the mortal part of the human soul responsible for desires and passions.

In the "winged chariot myth" the charioteer represents the rational soul. It is the supreme part of the human being, it identifies with reason and enables it for knowledge and to act in accordance with its greatest virtue, that is, good and justice. It is a principle that is related to divinity and is immortal. It places it in the head (the brain). In the polis they would be the rulers.

The good and docile horse is the irascible soul, and as you follow the instructions of the charioteer, you can go to the world of ideas and contemplate the Idea of ​​Good. To the irascible soul corresponds will, courage and fortitude It is not clear if this part is immortal or not. He places it on his chestthe heart). The Warriors in the polis.

And lastly, there is the part concupiscible, which is represented by the bad horse, the one who wants to go to the physical world, ignoring the instructions of the charioteer. This part is related to the body, to the pleasure and the wishes, and it corresponds to her temperance. Being bound to the body, it dies with it. It places it in the abdomen (the liver). Would be the peasants and merchants.

The Plato's theory of the immortality of the soul is exhibited mainly in the Phaedo, Meno, Timaeus and the Republic. Here are his well-known arguments presented in the Phaedo:

1. If you are part of the existence of opposites (derived from the same matter as its opposite), since life produces death, it can be thought that death produces life. It is therefore an endless circle process.
2. There is a human being knowledge "a priori" they do not belong to the physical world, and therefore must come from a previous life. An example is found in mathematics, which allows people to state their truths, even without having been educated to do so. This is because learning is nothing more than remembering what the soul already knew.
3. The soul has a divine and spiritual character, thanks to which he can see the forms of the intelligible world, which cannot be perceived by the senses.
4. The soul never dies does not consume your energy throughout many lives, because the soul is a form, and therefore does not admit opposition, that is, death. Thus, the soul survives the body after death, it does not perish with it.
5. The soul is indestructible. No evil can destroy the soul, in the same way that a bad man cannot destroy it, because only a good one is capable of destroying it.
6. The soul is the principle of movement, and therefore, no one has been able to create it, since if so, it would lack such quality, and it cannot be destroyed either, because otherwise, being the origin of all dynamism, everything would end.

It seems that Plato believed in the life of the soul after death, which would be in relation to the life that had been born on earth, which for Plato, as for his teacher Socrates, would be nothing more than a preparation for the death.

With this we end our summary of the immortality of the soul in Plato. We hope you have understood it and our lesson has served you.