Analysis of the Argument on the Soul in Pheado (Essay Sample)

Instructions:

You are to take a significant argument from The Pheado and give a full analysis. What is this argument? Is it a good argument? What objections might one raise against it? What role does it play in the philosophical theories of the author of the argument? I do not care whether you agree or disagree with the conclusion. Our concern is with the argument. More precisely, having sifted out what is irrelevant, mere illustration, or side issue, you are to make your job identifying what things are merely asserted and what are argued for, and to sift out what is irrelevant, illustration, or explanation. Then you must analyze what the argument is. Next, you need to identify difficulties in the argument. Is it sound, or are some of the premises false or the argument invalid? If so where precisely does it go wrong? If you think it valid, what serious objections might you raise against the argument, and how do you defend the argument against those objections. If the argument is part of a larger discussion, you need to explain how it contributes to the larger discussion. In discussing the argument stick very closely to the text. Make sure you show that each claim, for example, that you attribute to Socrates is actually a claim of Socrates by showing where in the text the claim is made or even by quoting the claim (with a reference to the text). Be sure to answer the entire question. Your paper should be clearly written, well organized, and grammatical with correct spelling. topic: Plato, the argument on the soul, Phaedo 105B-7A. To analyze this argument, you will certainly have to use (and cite) premises that come earlier in 99D-105B.

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Analysis of the Argument on the Soul in Pheado
The Phaedo is one of the dialogues of Plato’s middle period which are extremely dense with philosophy. Alongside the Republic, Phaedo contains the first ever extended conversation of the theory of forms. It also contains four arguments for explaining the immortality of the soul as well as other arguments in support of philosophical life. Thus, Phaedo emerges as one of the most read Plato’s dialogues of ancient Greek philosophy. This essay examines the four arguments of the soul according to the dialogue of Phaedo by Plato. By providing a philosophical inquest into Socrates’ final hours, this dialogue provides a compelling belief concerning the fate of the soul once a person has died (115a). The argument from opposites, the theory of recollection, the theory of affinity and a final argument which is presented as a response to Cebes’ objection provide the basis for the philosophy of the soul according to Plato.
In the argument from opposites, Socrates presents an ontological perspective of the principle of non-contradiction. When this law is applied to Plato’s ontology, it appears that it puts certain limitations to each of the distinct relationships that exist between particulars and the forms that are common among them, more so pertaining to the ability of those particulars to change. For particulars, according to the law of non-contradiction, it is impossible to share in opposite forms with regard to the same thing (69e). Such particular stops sharing the original form, such as form of shortness concerning Socrates and shares in the opposite, the form of tallness concerning Socrates. Thus, particulars can change forms whereby they share. For instance, when a person becomes taller through growth, they are no longer sharing in the form of shortness in relation to them (72e). It follows that since life is the opposite of death, it is only rational to state that just as living people change to dead people, in the same way, the dead must also change to living. It implies from

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Analysis of the Argument on the Soul in Pheado (Essay Sample)

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