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Concept of the Soul & the Afterlife

This study will examine the concept of the soul and the afterlife, including exploration of the Socratic and Christian ideas of the soul and immortality. The study will also include consideration of Miguel de Unamuno's views on these subjects (a blend of existentialism and Christian thought), as well as this reader=s views, and will finally examine the issue of abortion, specifically as presented by Judith Jarvis Thomson, as it relates to the issue of the soul.

Socrates argues in the Phaedo that the soul existed before the individual was born. Basing his view on the argument that "Learning is actually nothing but recollection," Socrates concludes that "our souls did exist earlier . . . before entering human form, apart from bodies; and they possessed wisdom" (Plato 21;26).

Socrates' argument is basically that a human being has a certain inherent sense about the reality of the world, and especially about how objects compare with one another, which cannot be gained at birth, and, therefore, this knowledge and wisdom was present before birth, before the body was created, and, therefore, the soul must exist as a depository of this knowledge and wisdom.

Socrates' argument convinces Simmias and Cebes, but it is an argument which cannot be proved. The infant cannot be seen to have knowledge or wisdom at birth, and that which it shows later could easily have been learned after birth. Socrates' audience yields to his arguments too easily, as Plato controls their words and assent to Socrates.

Socrates believes that reason and argument lead to proof of the soul's presence before birth, but as much as he might give reasonable evidence for it, he does not prove it no matter how much he wants to believe it.

There is no doubt that a major part of Socrates= argument about the soul and its immortality is based on his view that the body and the soul are separate entities. He also strongly believes that the soul tends toward the go...

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Concept of the Soul & the Afterlife. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:42, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1701711.html