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TG Kalghatgi
sleep, the two states alternate Slnilarly as life and death are opposites. they are generated one from the other, wbat dies must have been alive. and what is alive must have been dead The souls of the dead must exist somewhere, whence they return again into lifo 15
(4) Again Plato argues that soul is indestructible because nothing can be destroyed except by its own proper and specific evil The cyes for example are liable to the evil ophthalmia, the body could suffer and timber rot The specific evil of the soul 15 wickedness Therefore if the soul is destructible It must die of wickedness But wickedness cannot kill the soul and notbing else can destroy it 10
(5) Plato gives a further argument for the priority and eternity of the soul because it is self-moved It is the cause of all movements in the universe The argument centred round the priciple of self-movement Other things in inotion get their motion due to some external impact while bis soul is self-moved Therefore it is eternal
(6) In the Meno Socrates is represented as eliciting a geometrical theorem from a slave boy by a series of appropriate questions The soul must have always possessed this knowledge and the boy is only recollecting it If the truth of all things always existed in the soul, then the soul is immortal. This argument is based on the theory of the recollection 17
In the Phaedo, the Phaedrus and the Symposium the argument for precxistence la presented in a poctic form The soul uses sight 'the noblest of the senses' It goes back from earthly beauties to the heavenly beauties and finally Beauty in itself - the idea of the beauty
We see two objects to be equal Yet they only approximate to the idea of equality which is perfect equality We must, therefore, have had knowledge of equality before we first saw equal things and preceived that they all strive towards perfect equality and this falls short of it 18 Such knowledge must have been received by us before we were born
(1) The soul is indestructiblo because it is simple and has no parts Plato argues about the immortality of soul on the basis of its simplicity and its unity We find these arguments in the Republic and in the Symposium
(8) Finally plato gives mythle picture of the state of soul after death In the Republic, we have the myth of Er Plato gives a beautiful description of journey of the soul after death into strange lands and its choice of life to
15 The Phaedo, p. 70-71 16 The Republic, P 608 17 The Meno, p 85-86 18. The Phosdo, p 75.
