Socrates is actually right in the last clause, because neither the ideas nor the souls existed before birth, partially because birth is an arbitrary limit.
The use of birth as a delineation is entirely arbitrary and is rooted in the same kind of inaccurate conception of identity and consciousness that underpins Socrates' entire worldview. The prenatal knowledge Socrates imagines he has observed exists before birth in that it is encoded into a human's DNA well before any given baby passes through a birth canal, but there is no evidence for that baby somehow being filled with knowledge or consciousness at a certain point such that one can talk about before birth and after birth as useful time designations. Again, Socrates' argumentative and logical failures are largely born out of scientific ignorance, but this does not lessen the fact that he is not so much making a genuine argument as much as making things up.
However, what makes Socrates so effective is that after he makes up his initial assumptions (regarding the existence of a soul and gods, for example), he attempts to discuss those made-up things in straightforward, logically cohesive ways, so that his explanation for the eternal nature of the soul appears reasonable when compared to the responses of the straw men around him. In other words, Socrates appears convincing in Phaedo because he knows the rules of his imaginary mythos better than the other characters, and thus can outline those rules in a way that has the appearance of critical investigation and logical progression. Thus, his conversation partners end up reiterating Socrates' most problematic assumptions, such as when Simmias says "there is nothing which to my mind is so patent as that beauty, goodness, and the other notions of which you were just now speaking, have a most real and absolute existence" (Plato 46).
These things do have a real and absolute existence, but only as the meaning-content of human consciousness, and not as anything that transcends the limits of physics....
Phaedo, a dialogue written by the famous Plato, depicts the death of Socrates. Socrates, a great philosopher, was the center focus of Plato during Socrates' final days. It was the previous dialogue of the seven that Plato penned during this period which comprised of: Theaetetus, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Statesman and Sophist. Socrates instructed Plato. After his death, Plato went on to reconstruct his dialogues. These dialogues described the principles Socrates
Plato -- Life and Works Plato was born in Athens circa 425 BC, just after the onset of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. He lost his father at an early age, but through his mother's marriage to a friend of the leading statesman and general of Athens at the time, Plato became affiliated with some of the most influential circles of a city enjoying a Golden Age. The early
Socrates and Virtue Comparing and Contrasting Virtue in Taoism and Socrates' Philosophy The idea of virtue in Taoism may be compared and contrasted to the idea of virtue in the teachings of Socrates. For Socrates, virtue is related to the pursuit of wisdom through philosophy, and is ordered to that which is true and good. Taoism similarly calls upon the practitioner to devote himself to the Way, which is the order that
This aspect of the work also confirmed a clear belief that Socrates held, that nothing bad could happen to a good man. Socrates believed this to be a fundamental truth and he believed that he was a good man. As such he was at peace with whatever was going to happen to him as a result of the trial. In this particular passage it is also clear that Socrates
Dialogues of Plato Discuss the following three analogies, tying them in with Socrates' life and mission: a) Gadfly (from "Apology") b) Midwife (implied in Meno) c) Stingray (from Meno). In Ancient Greece, one of the most preeminent philosophers of the society was Socrates. Unfortunately, he was also critical of the social structure of his culture and thus subject to legal consequences for his criticisms. Finally, the government put Socrates on trial,
It is only through occult understanding that the forms and the archetypal images and symbols can be interpreted. Here we see that the term unconsciousness is very similar to the Platonic ideals and forms. Another aspect that will form part of the theoretical perspective of this study is the concept of transformation. In order to understand the occult and its relationship to the forms, a process of transformation has to
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