Jayson Karuna

Phil 130
Rheins

Phaedo by Plato takes place during Socrates final hours in his jail cell. Socrates and his
fellow philosophers converse on the state of the soul upon death. Surprisingly to philosopher
Cebes, Socrates chooses to welcome death. This is due to Socrates belief that the soul is
immortal and lives on after the death of ones body. Socrates defends his logic and argument by
utilizing the Argument from Opposites which denotes that all things that have opposites are
generated from their opposite. Within his argument, Socrates suggests that all things that can
change states are never-ending. However, something that can change conditions is not
necessarily eternal in nature. In this paper, I agree with Socrates argument that the soul is
immortal, but assess it to be not entirely sound.
Socrates asserts that the soul continues to live on even after the body ceases to have life.
To defend this argument, Socrates derives the reasoning that all things considered in life to have
opposites,"come to be only from their opposites (70 e). For example, in order for an
individual to be sleeping they must have been awake. In order for an individual to be awake they
must have been sleeping. Socrates also uses the illustration that in order for something to become
larger it must have been smaller. Contrarily, in order for something to become smaller, it must
have been larger before. (70e). Socrates then narrows his argument between the opposites of life
and death. The condition of dying is the opposite of living and the condition of living is the
opposite of dying. If one is not alive (dead), they were once alive, and if one were alive they
were once not alive (dead). So since death is generated through life, life must be generated

through death (71 d). Socrates characterizes the soul and body as two different entities. He is
trying to argue that the soul lives on after one dies. So he is defining the soul as the object that
gives the body its life. So ones soul must have existed before their birth in order for their body
to start living. The death of a body ultimately generates life because upon death, a soul continues
to live for the purpose of livening a body. Socrates asserts that if this circular, continuing process
between opposites did not occur, everything that had opposites would cease to exist (72 b). If life
ultimately generated death and the process stopped there; death would not be able to generate
life, and life would cease to exist. Evidently, life does continue to exist and so the entity that
gives a body life must remain to facilitate the process. This entity is the soul, and in this classical
Athenian context, must live on in the Underworld until it further facilitates the process of life by
habiting a body.
Socrates uses the Argument from Opposites to demonstrate to Cebes why dying does not
frighten him. Socrates believes that the soul can enrich itself further even after it has left the
physical body. Because of the nature of death, the soul has the opportunity to go to places the
physical body cannot go. So due to Socrates belief that the soul is immortal, he also believes
that the soul can obtain further philosophic knowledge after death. Socrates tells Cebes, "soul is
immortal and imperishable, and our souls really will exist in Hades(107 a). Clearly he believed
that the immortal soul, separated from the body, would travel to the underworld after death. This
departed soul that came from a dead body dwells in the underworld until it gives life to another
body in the ongoing process of life and death. Due to the nature of the opposites of life and
death, Socrates argument is not necessarily sound. It is physically evident that the opposites of
being asleep and being awake are generated from each other. Also, it is physically evident that
something like a balloon is smaller before air is put into it to make it become larger. It is also

explicit that death cannot occur without life preceding it. However, it is not metaphysically
accurate to say that the life given to the body is generated from the death of a preceding body.
Although Socrates asserts the soul retains its equitable knowledge, it is not clearly apparent that
our soul came from a preceding body that died.
Due to Socrates validity within his argument, if one chooses to believe so, the soul is
immortal because opposites are ultimately generated through their opposites. So the opportunity
of life for a body must be generated through the death of a preceding body. Since the physical
body of the soul clearly decomposes and depletes, the separate entity of the soul within
transcends to a place of uninhabited existence until it generates life within another body. In
conclusion, Socrates is valid in saying the soul is immortal, but is not necessarily sound in the
idea that the soul endures eternally within life and death.

Adrians feedback focused on me explaining the logic of my sentences. To make sure that before
I move on to the next point, I finish the current point in its entirety. I incorporated this feedback,
by implementing more context between explanations to make the flow much more cohesive and
thorough. Also, I removed any points I were making that were ambiguous or not very thought
out.

Mihaelas feedback focused on diction and syntax throughout my paper. Certain sentences could
have been more clear/concise if I chose the right words and a better word order. I incorporated
this feedback, by reading my essay over a bunch of times to analyze the most clear and efficient
way to flow my sentences and words. This allowed me to use synonyms that made much more
sense and use commas to my advantage to maintain overall clarity.