Plato’s views on the Soul
by Tatiana Velitchkov © 2009

Plato is a legend and a person who held a strong view on the soul and what it entails. Man is made up of two entities – one the body, and two the soul – that was Plato’s view. Plato viewed the soul as an immortal being that came in three cycles which were in three basic states and they are pre natal, embodiment and post mortem.

Plato definitely backed his views by giving an argument on why he saw the soul as immortal. Existent was a theory on opposites, a theory of recollection plus the theory of destruction, this are the basic theories he used to back his views. Many people have claimed that through the text Plato wrote there has been an unsubstantiated argument about his theory on immortality.

Plato stated that the parts of the soul consisted of reason, emotions and desire. He stated that in some way man could act in two different manners at the same time, he continued to say that this were two different parts in conflict with each other. For the mind to be it has to think right using ego. Plato’s view on the soul was that.

Plato stated that everything that is currently large was once small and that every strong thing must a have been weak at some point. He explains that the soul is in its pre natal state by using the knowledge of man on equality. He dealt specifically with the principles that involve what happens to the soul after death. He explains through the theory of re collection that this life must have been pre existent, because man knew things from the past.

Using this theory of re collection he states that forms are eternal unimportant objects only known to the soul. If only man was to realize this then the sense of equality can be perfectly understood. Plato’s view on the soul is that understanding the soul is not something that is experienced it is something that was in existence even before birth. Since the pre existence of the soul cannot be completely proven, Plato stated that if man comes from death to come to life again then it is true that the soul must have been pre existent. The theory of destruction is another theory Plato explained. In this theory he states that the soul is divine and invariable and that the body is mortal and consistent.

And here is a video of Professor Kagan in which he elaborates on the “argument from simplicity” and discusses in detail Plato’s claims that the soul is simple, changeless and therefore indestructible.