An evaluation of Plato’s conception of immortality of the soul in Phaedo

Abstract

The concept of the soul as a subject of philosophical enquiry has been investigated from different thematic perceptions – immortality, invisibility, imperceptibility and rebirth. The universality of the doctrine of immortality of the soul shows that man has for long wondered of what becomes of him after death. This paper discusses the concept of immortality of the soul as conceived by Plato. In his dialogues, Plato uses interlocutors who were real persons to argue on different subjects to drive home his points. The issue of immortality of the soul is one of the various topics discussed in his various dialogues, raising different points to buttress his arguments for immortality of the soul. However, the Phaedo is a detailed discussion on the concept of immortality of the soul, in fact the subject can be said to be the central theme of the whole book. In Phaedo, Plato raises four different arguments to support his claim of immortality of the soul namely: The Cyclical Argument, the Theory of Collection (anamnesis), the Argument from Affinity, and the Formal Argument. In these various arguments, Plato tries to establish the existence of the soul before its earthly birth as well as its continuous existence after the death of the body. This paper argues against Plato’s conception of immortality of the soul, establishing that his theories are not sufficient enough to prove that the soul is immortal. In order to achieve the aim of this study, synthetic content analysis and interpretative methods are employed to analyse the data collected from both primary and secondary sources for the study.