Structure of the Phaedo

Part I: philosophical life Preface 57a-59d:

settings/frame Prologue 59d-69e: art of

dying

Part II: Immortality + the Forms

Initial logoi –3 proofs + mythos (70a-84b)

INTERLUDE 84c-91c Final logoi/mythos 91d-115a

Part III: Epilogue 115a-118a: death

First Part of the Logos

Cyclical Argument

Argument from Recollection

Affinity Argument Myth of

Reincarnation

Cyclical Argument

1. If opposites come from opposites2. And the live and dead are opposites

(as are dying/coming-back-to-life)3. Then the dead come to be from the

living; and the living must come from the dead, i.e. souls must continue to exist, so they can be reborn.

Criticisms? Cf. 70de 71e 72b ‘life’ is not a physical property. (but a kind of ‘psyche’)

Non-mythological meaning & immortality

Recollection Argument1. If we have knowledge not acquired in

this life, we acquired it prior to this life

2. We have such knowledge--knowledge of the Ideas*

3. Therefore our souls existed prior to birth into our bodies

*How do we know this? Because we cannot have acquired knowledge of the Forms from sense-perception (cf. also ‘proof’ in Meno 81-85). But what is the argument for this claim? (74-75)

Note 73c, 74b, 74e-75c, 75e-76a, 76cd

Critical passage

Do equal sticks and other equal (sense) objects ever seem equal in the same sense as the Equal itself? 74d

Perceptual things = imperfectly alike = particulars in

space and time seen differently by

different perceivers Forms

= perfectly equal = eternal universals = self-same to

reason

Two examples of equalityPythagorean theorem:For all right-angled triangles, the square of the hypoteneuse = the sum of the squares of the sidesHow is this equality = different from the similar equality of a physical representation of it?

Moral thesis: “All men are created equal, and possess inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”How is this equality & these rights different from the legal rights people have?

Knowledge, reason and perception

Epistemology:Does all knowledge (a) derive from sense-perception or (b) is some innate?Is all knowledge justified by appeal to empirical evidence or is some based on reason alone?

Socrates’ argument: Knowledge of Forms

= ‘triggered’ by perception, but is (b) innate (imperfection argument)

Math, logic, moral knowledge is not justified by induction from experience

Recollection Argument

1. If we have knowledge not acquired in this life, we acquired it prior* to this life

2. We have such knowledge--knowledge of the Ideas [triggered by experience]

3. Therefore our souls existed prior to birth into our bodies

*Does this follow? Could we acquire it at birth?

Note 73c, 74b, 74e-75c, 75e-76a, 76cd Implication for Argument and inference to step #3

Affinity Argument(s) 1st argument (78b-79e)

1. The compound, changing, visible (e.g. sense-

particulars) suffers dissolution/destruction; the simple, unchanging, invisible (e.g. Forms) does not

2. Soul is more like an invisible entity than visible3. Therefore souls are likely to be unchanging,

indissoluble, indestructible.

2nd argument (80a-b)1. The divine rules, the mortal is ruled2. Soul rules the body3. Therefore soul is like the divine, body like the

mortal

2 Worlds in the Phaedo

Sensible Objects of

perception Particulars in space,

time No universal,

necessary laws Persons = human

bodies

Intelligible Objects of reason

Universals beyond space, time

Universal, necessary truths

Persons = moral & rational souls

Myth of Reincarnation

Puzzles: Reincarnation vs. resurrection? heaven & hell? Is soul separate from body (64c) or throughout it

(67d)? If soul is entirely separate, how can it ‘rule’ the body

(80ab)? If soul is permeated (81c) by the corporeal, how can it

be separate? Be reborn? How is soul the agent of its imprisonment (82e)? Its

liberation?

Two interpretations of reincarnation: mythical: soul-substance ethical: character-formation

Logos and Mythos in Phaedo I

M y t h o s

1. Cyclical: individual immortality

2. Recollection: we possess all knowledge prior to birth

3. Affinity: immortal souls4. Reincarnation: reborn as

animals corresponding to morals

L o g o s

1. Cyclical: species immortality2. Recollection: innatism and

the Forms3. Affinity arguments: reason 4. Reincarnation: shape our

characters by choices, actions