Socrates And Descartes: The Immortalityality Of The Soul

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Many philosophers throughout history pondered on the subject of the immortality of the soul. While many believe the soul is truly immortal, there are many different theories and beliefs of this idea. Two philosophers that deal with the topic of the immortality of the soul are Socrates and Descartes. These two philosophers believe that the soul is immortal, however, they both have different beliefs in the ways that the soul is immortal. Even though they share the same overarching belief, the way they thought and theorized the belief are different. Socrates believes the soul immortal in the way of the theory of recollection and the argument of opposites, while Descartes believes that the soul is immortal due to the separation of the mind or soul …show more content…

The setting of the book takes place when Socrates is in his jail cell awaiting his death. Socrates was sentenced to death due to the fact that he was believed to be corrupting the youth by spreading his ideals around his community. He was also sentenced to death for not believing in the Gods, as well as claiming he was wiser than the said “wise” people of society due to the Oracle of Delphi revealing that he was in fact the wisest. While in the cell awaiting his death, many people came to visit him, including Cebes and Simmias, of whom Socrates has the discussion of the immortality of the soul with. The topic of the immortality of the soul was originally brought up when Socrates was saying that philosophers should never be afraid death. He brought this up due to the obvious fact that he was sentenced to death. He claimed that philosophers should embrace death since death is where the separation of the soul and body takes place. “... I think that a man who has truly spent his life in philosophy is probably right to be of good cheer in the face of death and to be very hopeful that after death he will attain the greatest blessings yonder” (Plato 55). What Socrates means by this is that philosophers should never fear death due to the fact philosophers …show more content…

Even though they both believe in the same theory, they have different reasons for thinking that way due to the time period they were, the situation they were put in, as well as they were thinking at the time they were alive. Both provided arguments for why they believe that the soul is immortal, however Descartes provided a better defended

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