cal form. This is an intuitive belief, for it is evident to Socrates as it has been to others that there is some distinction to be made between physical form and the inner life of the individual. The self in Socrates' view survives once it is freed from the confines of the body, and so Socrates may see death as a continuation of and as his best opportunity for further philosophical inquiry as the soul journeys to a different state of existence. The self can then be freed from the limitations of the senses and the confines of the physical needs of the body, both of which prevent the should from attaining its fullest expression.
The proofs offered by Socrates were speculative and based on reasoning alone, as indeed they had to be since no one who has died has ever returned to tell what death is like. This could be because the soul is not immortal, so there is no "person" to return, or it could be for some other reason that prevents the two worlds from meeting directly. In any case, there is no concrete proof to be brought forth, and Socrates uses logic and a rational analysis to delve into the question. Many of his proofs are not proofs at all but statements as to why the philosopher would want immortality to be true, such as so that his should could continue its quest for philosophical truth. Socrates certainly shows here a tendency to offer as proofs the conclusions he wants to find rather than using evidence to lead to a conclusion.
Consider another of his arguments, this one based on the continuity of the soul not only after death but extending before birth. Socrates states that opposites are generated from one another, something he says can be seen all around us in this world and that is presumed to carry over into the next world. Life is always followed by death, so to preserve the symmetry of the universe, death must be followed by life. Plato
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