A01 Paragraphs - Self, Death and Afterlife Philosophy

• Plato - Body/Soul Relationship 1/2

  Plato distinguishes between the body and soul through his analogy of the charioteer. Plato argues that the body is infected by the senses of the world and the soul is pure as it comes from the world of forms. Our innate knowledge comes from the world of forms, it is carried in our soul and it contains everything that is good.
• Plato - Body/Soul Relationship 2/2

  According to the charioteer analogy, the soul is the charioteer who guides the horses (the body). The soul tries to steer the body towards perfection but the body resists. Plato’s theory is dualist; he believes that the body and mind are separate.
• Plato - The Afterlife 


  Plato argues that the soul survives in the afterlife without the body. The soul that we all possess lived in the world of perfect forms prior to entering this world. As the soul entered the world, it travelled through the river of forgetfulness. This is where you gain innate knowledge. Moreover, Plato believes in the Cycle of Opposites. Everything has an opposite, for example, life comes from death and death comes from life. So therefore, we know there is immortality of the soul. It is a constant cycle of life and death
• Descartes - Body/Soul Relationship 1/2


  Descartes holds a dualist belief; that the mind and body are seperate substances. He identifies these through res extensa and res cognitas. The body is extended matter: it is spatial and observable. Whereas the mind is non-spatial and non-observable. Descartes suggested that the pineal gland was the point at which the mind controlled the body. This is articulated as interactionism. Descartes believed that every part of the body had an opposite, except the pineal gland, so that must be the place where the body and mind interact.