Paste your essay in here…The modern concept of the soul comes from the Greek philosophers, Plato (429-347 B.C.E) in particular developed the concept of the soul which I will explore in this essay. Understanding the soul was key to philosophers as they believed it to be what sets us apart from animals and defines us as rational beings. Plato's idea of the soul is based off the idea that it is non-physical and therefore it relates to his own theory of the forms. Plato makes the important clarification that we are our soul, not our physical body. Plato views the soul as eternal but his ideas develop over the course of his writings and he later adopts the idea of the immortal soul, meaning that it pre-existed the body. Plato's texts exist in the form of dialogues and each is unique . The Republic, written around 380 BCE maps his views on the nature of the soul. Plato is importantly influenced by Socrates, another Greek philosopher and an older friend and teacher of his. Socrates never wrote any texts himself but he is present as a character in Plato's own dialogues and clearly influenced Plato's views on the soul.
Plato's views on the nature of the soul can only be understood in relation to his theory of the forms. Plato's allegory of the cave distinguishes between those who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth and those who are able to really see the truth. Plato describes prisoners stuck in a cave where the prisoners all watch shadows cast on the cave wall. The prisoners are chained and cannot see that there is a fire behind them which is casting the shadows. The prisoners believe the shadows on the wall to be true reality and they attach names such as "tree" or "girl" onto the shadows . The prisoners are only seeing the imperfect reflections and believe them to be the whole truth, these prisoners are only slaves to their senses. Plato continues his analogy by stating that a prisoner, who he names Socrates , escapes from the cave where he sees the fire and then the outside world for the first time. The prisoner gradually adjusts to the new world and all its elements until finally he can see the sun "in its own proper place and not in another, he will now contemplate him as he is" . The escaped prisoner now understands that the shadows in the cave are not the whole world. He returns to the cave and is hopeful that the other prisoners will understand him and join him outside. After his explanation the prisoners in the cave brandish him as crazy and they do not believe him . The escaped prisoner in this analogy represents the philosopher who seeks a higher understanding of the world while the sun embodies the highest form of philosophical knowledge and truth .The sun is the perfect form of the good on which everything relies on. The analogy of the cave is successful in my opinion as it warns people off relying on sensory experience and urges us to question our senses and what is immediately presented to us. The analogy of the cave draws similarities to Socrates own life. Socrates was falsely accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and as a result he was sentenced to death for challenging the accepted beliefs of the time .
In essence, Plato's philosophy is centered on the idea that the world can be divided into two realms. The visible realm is that which is revealed only by the senses and is a reflection of a truer reality. The second realm is the invisible one: the world of the forms. It exists of the universal forms such as the perfect form of justice, beauty, knowledge etc. Everything we experience in the visible realm participates in the higher realm of perfect forms. Plato argues that we have an innate knowledge of the forms as we can recognise that a circle is "perfect" yet not explain why. Therefore we must have some intuitive knowledge of the perfect forms meaning our soul exists separately from our body. This separate soul was once apart of the invisible world of the forms.
Plato's approach to body and soul is dualistic, although his views on the soul change over time which is visible over the course of his texts . Plato's Phaedrus was written in the second period of his literacy alongside The Republic and Phaedo. This was the time of Plato's most prominent writings. Plato's idea at this time was of the tripartite soul which he illustrated with his allegory of the chariot. The chariot is pulled by two winged horses; one black, mortal horse and another white, immortal horse . The charioteer has to lead the two horses toward heaven and the perfect forms. The horses have to work in harmony in order to reach this destination. The black horse represents man's appetite which tends to the primal needs such as sex, food and money. Following only the black horse would lead to a life of hedonism and excess greed. While the charioteer represents man's reason which is the highest sense of the man. The metaphor of the chariot communicates that reason is most important and that it should guide spirit and desire but not let them rule. The three parts have to work together to achieve perfect harmony of the soul. Eudaimonia, the term meaning "human flourishing" is mainly attached to Aristotle who saw it as striving for excellence but also relates to Plato and his metaphor of the chariot. The analogy of the chariot is a solution to the premise that the soul cannot be in one state and the opposite and so there must be at least two aspects of the soul. The tripartite soul has longevity in philosophy and more recently Sigmund Freud developed the concepts of the ID, super-ego and ego which is another dualistic way of looking at human conscious.
Plato's theory of the forms and his subsequent views on the soul invites much critique. Plato's ideas change over time as evident from his texts which invites criticism but I think it is benefical that Plato's views are subject to change and are therefore being developed. For Plato, knowledge is innate but untapped and we have to focus on remembering thus knowledge. On the other hand, Aristotle clarifies that knowledge has to be learnt . Plato offers criticism to his own theory of the forms with the third man argument from his dialogue Parmenides. Aristotle further develops the third man argument which shows that the theory of forms is contradictory. The argument follows that if a cat is a cat because it partakes in the perfect form of the cat then there would have to be third form to explain how the form of the cat and the cat itself are both cat and so this would go on. The third man argument is effective in its criticism but slightly conflicting to fully understand. Plato even appears to contradict his own arguments as he states it is more reasonable to just believe our senses which is in conflict with the analogy of the cave.
In conclusion ,Plato's ideas on the soul hold prominence as he inspired future philosophers in their ways of thinking. Aristotle (322-384 BCE) was also a dualist who believed that the soul is immortal but he thought that both the body and soul make up a human being and so disagreed with Plato's view that the body is a prison to the soul.