The Soul According to Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine Essay

Plato’s theory of the simplicity of the soul is seen in the Phaedo. Through the mouthpiece of Socrates, Plato argues for a simple soul which only has one true aim. He states that the soul only seeks truth and that all other senses and experiences are merely distractions through the soul being embodied ‘the soul reasons best when none of these senses troubles it, neither hearing nor sight, nor pain nor pleasure, but when it is most by itself, taking leave of the body and as far as possible having no contact or association with it in its search for reality.’ (Plato, 1997, §65c). The simple soul can only aim to grasp the truth of reality which it gets closer to as man becomes closer to death. This is why, in Plato’s opinion, a philosopher in particular can

life: seeing the world in relationship to oneself alone, versus viewing the world as an aggregate.

In this essay it will be argued that the soul is mortal and does not survive the death of the body. As support, the following arguments from Lucretius will be examined: the “proof from the atomic structure of the soul,” the “proof from parallelism of mind and body,” the “proof from the sympatheia of mind and body,” and the “proof from the structural connection between mind and body.” The following arguments from Plato will be used as counterarguments against Lucretius: the “cyclical argument,” the “affinity argument,” the “argument from the form of life,” and the “recollection argument.” It will be shown that Plato’s premises lack validity and that Lucretius’

Read the following in Plato's The Last Days of Socrates: Phaedo Wisdom and the Soul

Aristotle has a different view on the make-up of the soul. In Aristotle discussion On the Soul he talks about the kinds of souls possessed by different living things such as plants, animals and, beings. Aristotle then goes on describing the substance that makes up the soul, the first is matter which is not this in its own right, the second is form which makes matter this and the third form is the compound of matter and form. Every living body is a substance and the soul is the actuality of the body. The soul

In his only extant work, the poem De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), Epicurean author Titus Lucretius Carus writes of the soul as being inseparable from the corporeal body. This view, although controversial in its opposition to the traditional concept of a discrete, immortal soul, is nevertheless more than a mere novelty. The argument that Lucretius makes for the soul being an emergent property of interactions between physical particles is in fact more compelling and well-supported now than Lucretius himself would have ever imagined.

The idea of the soul varies widely in religious tradition. While these variations exist, its basic definition is unvarying. The soul can be described as the ultimate internal principle by which we think, feel, and will, and by which our bodies are animated. The soul is seen as the core principle of life or as the essence of a being 1. Views on the permanence of the soul vary throughout religious tradition as well. While some view it as a mortal entity in flux others believe the soul is an immortal and permanent unit. These interpretations vary from time period to time period and between religions. These characteristics of the soul are interpreted differently through an Eastern or

It is unclear on to what extent he believed the soul was separate to the body. In his De Anima, he makes it clear that he believes the intellectual part of the soul can be separable from the body and is eternal. This makes it a bit confusing on whether the soul is part of the body or separate, or is it some part of the soul that is separable. Aristotle separated the intellectual sense into the ‘calculative’ or ‘deliberative’ or ‘theoretical’ or ‘scientific’. The first part is art meaning outside man hence the result of his activity. The other part is prudence that is the activity-referred to as the ‘art’ of doing. Prudence concerns what men are supposed to do with the future. The part of scientific understanding is the top activity of the faculty and of man himself since it’s man’s intellectual ability that separates him from other creatures. I do not believe Aristotle’s view of the soul is completely coherent because he does appear to contradict himself, as mentioned above. It also seems that there is no clear understanding of life after death, making the concept incoherent.

explains his belief that the “soul exists before, and survives the body”. Plato 's beliefs of

Aristotle presents a short analysis of the rational part of the soul, dividing it into two parts, a part that uses reason and a part that obeys reason. He sees life as supported by activity and not just the capacity to do something.

What is a soul? The spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal regarded as immortal. Many Philosophers studied the soul in several ways in order to get the point of what is the soul. Although sometimes it is confusing to understand what is meant because it is explained in other ways and used in examples. The Philosopher Aristotle came to the conclusion that the soul is the first grade of actuality of a natural organized body. He uses it in the axe and eye as examples but yes it might be confusing but at the end it will make sense in what he means.

Plato has roused many readers with the work of a great philosopher by the name of Socrates. Through Plato, Socrates lived on generations after his time. A topic of Socrates that many will continue to discuss is the idea of “an immortal soul”. Although there are various works and dialogues about this topic it is found to be best explained in The Phaedo. It is fair to say that the mind may wonder when one dies what exactly happens to the beloved soul, the giver of life often thought of as the very essence of life does it live on beyond the body, or does it die with it? Does the soul have knowledge of the past if it really does live on?

It is also important to say that he also believes the soul is the form of the body in part, because the soul is the organization of the parts the body, the body is matter and it or soul is the form-the actual living body. To reiterate this point Aristotle offers us the example of a corpse and a bronze or wooden hand and states that these are not forms as they “lack the potentiality to perform the function of a hand”.7this would also suggest that once we are dead we undergo a material change which stops function and makes us akin to a statue. Aristotle then goes on to discuss matter which he says is “the matter that is the subject necessarily has a certain sort of nature....fire has a hot and light nature”8. He states that matter is what earlier philosophers focused on and it was how they explained the order of the world. Aristotle however does not believe that this is the way in which we should study nature, he believes we should ask what gives each natural substance its characteristic and we should look at “how each thing has naturally come to be, rather than how it is...then state their causes”9. Therefore he concludes that a prior observational investigation is best and that we should study the form.

body, the mind and the soul. The body is the physical part of the body

I remember growing up through the years, and I was always taught that once you die, your soul would float up to heave and that’s how you would live the rest of your days. This was my conception of the self; you would live out your days on earth but ascend to heaven once it was your time. Plato’s conception of the self is different from mine and is very interesting. Plato describes that your soul is immortal and that your body is just an obstacle for your body, that you gain all of this wisdom from when your soul finally leaves your body. This is very different from what I was taught during my childhood, and I think that Plato gives you a different way of thinking towards the body and the soul.