How dus Plato justyfy his beliefs that the body and soul are seperate?

Question

How dus Plato justyfy his beliefs that the body and soul are seperate?

Answer 1

The argument I was taught in school went something like this:

1. Bob doesn't exist after his death, but his body does exist.

2. If Bob doesn't exist after his death, but his body does exist, then it is not the case that each person is just a physical object.

3. If it's not the case that each person is just a physical object, then there must be a soul.

4. Therefore, soul's are separate entities from the physical body.

Of course there are many logical misteps with this argument, that need not be stated.

Answer 2

Plato was a DUALIST.

He believed that the soul and the body are two separate substances that interact. The real identity of the person lies with the SOUL

The soul has existed prior to being in the present body and, on death, will leave the body.

The idea begins with Plato’s teaching on the “demiurge”. This was a Being which existed outside of time and space, who used pre-existent matter to mould into the universe.

Everything that has been made, has limitations as it is “matter”. Everything has a perfect “form”

EG: when we see a flower, we see only an imperfect copy of the “form” of a flower which exists in the world of “forms”

These true forms can only be perceived by the soul when it exists before it enters the body, however when the soul takes possession of the body it forgets the perfect ideas and sees only shadows (copies) of the perfect forms.

The soul is on a higher level of reality than the body, being immortal with understanding of the realm of ideas

The body exists in the physical world where the senses see copies of the true forms

SO; the body is concerned with the senses, the soul with reason

KNOWLEDGE= a memory of the true forms which the soul had before it entered the body

The soul could be separated into 3 different parts:

The rational: reason and the desire for knowledge

The spirited: emotions and the desire for honour and prestige

The appetitive: concerned with the needs of the body

These parts are united by justice which ensures that each part performs properly

“The soul most closely resembles the divine and immortal, intelligible and uniform and indissoluble and ever-changeable, while the body most resembles the human and mortal, the unintelligible and dissoluble and endlessly changing” (Phaedo 80b)

The soul is not always perfect however, the body corrupts it and drags it down

Humans have the task of taking care of the soul – it is by nature, divine but is easily corrupted

This is grounded in the idea of a perfect universe, a creator, an immortal soul which will ultimately reside in this realm of universal, perfect “forms”, leaving the corrupt body behind.

Answer 3

Beacsue when the body dies the soul still exists there fore are not inter dependant.