Discuss fully Socrates argument that the soul is immortal (Essay Sample)

Discuss fully Socrates argument that the soul is immortal
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Discuss fully Socrates argument that the soul is immortal
The theory of forms holds that the elements of reality do not exist independently but are a made up of ideas (Ross, 1951). In essence, this refers to the act of viewing thing in an idealistic form which is often impractical. Socrates argues that the soul does not cease to exist once a human being dies. He states that the soul departs from the body and returns to the world below. Socrates extensively uses his ideas to argue that the soul does not die along with the human body. From his argument, the living comes from the dead. It shows that the souls which return to the underworld are reborn into new beings when one is born.
The soul and the body are two different persons whose activities and interactions are seemingly different. The body is engaged to the earthly desires while the soul maintains its divine character. The soul does not associate with the changes that the body may go through during its lifespan because it’s invisible. However, if it engages in the activities and desires of the body and fails to purify and sanctify itself for acceptance in the underworld for the love it has for the body, then it continues to roam the earth as a ghost.
The soul in an individual uses the body to perceive various senses such as sight, touch and smell. In essence, this explains that when one uses, for instance, the feeling of smell and can differentiate a good and bad smell it is because the soul has encountered the smell in its previous life. Socrates also says that when one learns something they are recollecting what they had heard before and forgotten. It is evident that through the soul, individuals have a lot of information and knowledge in their possession and all they need is to recall. Consequently, this shows that when one remembers something due to an event that takes place in their life, it is because the person has previous knowledge of whatever it is, they remember emanating from the soul that previously existed in another life.
Socrates perceives the soul as to what controls and influences human nature (Jowett, 1925). Ideally, it shows that the immoral rules over the body and that there cannot be a life not unless it is together with the soul. In essence, this indicates that the soul brings with it live to the body resulting in human life. The soul is invisible and does not change. It can also be said to be divine because it brings life to the body and does cease to exist when it’s time for the person in whom it is enjoined to die.
However, there are objections to the view that the soul is immortal. The first objection being that the existence of the soul before one’s life does not imply its immortality (Jowett, 1925). In response to this objection, Socrates argues that the soul brings life to the body. In this regard, it cannot receive death since the opposite cannot be opposed to itself as demonstrated by Socrates and because the soul is imperishable and thus immortal. Therefore, when death comes the mortal being which is the body dies and the immortal which is the soul departs and returns safely to the underworld.
The second objection arises in the comparison of anything that is invisible as the soul but has other elements that are perishable and mortal (Jowett, 1925). It is deemed invisible compared to the body which is physically visible and tangible. However, in response to this, there is nothing that precedes the soul. That is to say that the body is lifeless and has no meaning without the soul. Ideally, it is the soul that brings life to the body and not the reverse. Therefore, it is the organ that is mortal and not the soul.An objection arises as to whether the soul does not become the same as the body w...