Plato and the Soul

• What is a dualist?

  The mind and body are separate
• Plato was a…?


  Dualist
• What is Plato’s linguistic argument?


  The fact we use language about ourselves suggests an inner, separate reality (I, we, me)
• What is the argument from recollection?

  Because we know the universals, we must have seen them before (in the realm of the forms)
• What is Plato’s idea about the Cycle of Opposites?


  We know things by their opposites. Death comes from life so life must come from death, therefore our souls are recycled
• What is Plato’s knowledge argument?


  We can understand universals (things in the realm of the forms) not affected by time and space. There must be something within us with the ability to grasp them
• Plato’s view on the soul

  • Upon death the soul goes to the realm of the forms
  • The soul is pure in its original form, any impurities are from Earth
• Plato’s views on the body

  • The soul can exist apart from the body
  • The body and soul separate on death
• What does Steven Evan’s say about Plato’s views?


  Plato offers a rational argument for the existence of another reality
• Strengths of Plato’s argument

  • Very influential
  • We do instinctively know beauty etc, so it could have been from the realm of the forms
  • The theory that there is another world gives value to our present world
• What does Peter Geach say about Plato’s views?

  How does the soul see the forms, as seeing is a sensory experience, and we cannot trust our senses?
• Weaknesses of Plato’s views

  • Our mind affects our body and vice versa (eg drugs or mental illness)
  • Identity comes from our bodies too
  • Contradicts Christian view of God creating each soul new
  • Relies on the theory of forms, which has no evidence