The Concept Of Harmony And The Soul Between Simmias And Socrates

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Harmony is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as being “a pleasing combination or arrangement of different things.” In this essay I will be discussing the arguments in Phaedo by Plato of harmony and the soul between Simmias and Socrates. Simmias argues that “if the soul is a kind of harmony, when its strings are destroyed it’s (the body) destroyed too. (86a-d)” Through his argument, Simmias is implying that the soul and the body are harmonious to each other, that they are a pleasing arrangement of humanity, and that the body would be nothing without a soul; a body would not be a body. The first reason that Socrates is against this argument is because it goes against the account of which all in the discussion have agreed to be true; recollection. …show more content…

Because harmony is again defined as a pleasing arrangement of parts, the soul would therefore have to be solely good. A soul as a harmony would imply that all souls are pure, and that is not the case. The third argument that Socrates provides on why the soul could not be a harmony is that, if the soul were a harmony, it could never be out of tune with the body or oppose any parts of the body’s parts. As humans we go through a range of emotions. To be that the soul is a harmony, then we could not be angry, upset, hurt or frustrated in anyway. To feel any of these emotions would make the body out of tune with the …show more content…

The scientific method used in the days of early philosophy is interesting in that in modern day society it could carry no weight. It seems they discuss theories repeatedly until one new theory cancels out the last. Reincarnation of the soul is as much a question today as it was back then, as well as whether or not the soul actually exists. I think that, in the discussion of Phaedo, the philosophers are looking for an ultimate definition of a soul, but the fact is that the soul has a many various parts and frankly, could be anything to

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