Two key aspects of Plato's ethical doctrine are found in the Phaedo: the theory of recollection and the theory of forms. ... Before understanding the theory of recollecting, I think a sound understanding of the theory of forms is necessary. The theory of the forms is hinted at in previous books like the Meno but it isn't until the Phaedo before it is really introduced. The basic idea behind the theory of the forms is that in a sense, there are two realities. ... These two theories of Plato form the basis for his philosophical doctrine. ...

• Word Count: 1101
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Socratic method is the basis for many of the philosophical conclusions reached in Plato's Phaedo. ... In Plato's Phaedo, the residing place of the soul after death is a major topic of discussion. ... One such view is Plato's theory of recollection. ... Socrates argues this point by using the theory of forms. ... They had many differing views, ranging from Plato's theory of forms and arguments from opposites and affinity to Augustine's search for the form of God. ...

• Word Count: 1380
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• Grade Level: High School

In Phaedo, a fictionalized account of Socratese, Plato speaks of the separation of the soul and body. ... (Phaedo, 66e). ... It is the Forms in their purest states. ... Plato interpreted it as knowledge without use of the senses. ... It is a theory that is open to interpretation and possibly each individual has their own conception of what it is to acquire absolute knowledge. ...

• Word Count: 1059
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• Grade Level: High School

This knowledge, Plato believed, was gained when the soul resided in the invisible realm, the realm of The Forms and The Good. Plato's theory of The Forms argued that everything in the natural world is representative of the ideal of that form. ... Therefore, in arguing his theory of recollection, Plato proved that there is no true learning in this world; there is merely recollection of the knowledge the soul had previous to this life. ... Taken together, these three points make up Plato's theory on the transmigration of the soul. ... Phaedo. ...

• Word Count: 1167
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• Grade Level: High School

With the dialogues of the Meno and Phaedo, Plato discusses the ideas of recollection and immortality of the soul in general. ... Phaedo, the second dialogue of Plato's theory, states that only through the forms and absolutes, an individual can have knowledge. ... The other Platonic idea that is shown in the Phaedo is the idea of the immortality of the soul. ... "(The Search for Knowledge 90) which states that the immortality of the soul is the foundation of Plato's theory of recollection and further proves it so. ... I believe that through the three dialogues of Plato, his theory...

• Word Count: 2706
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

The Theory of Forms, which vastly underpins western religious philosophy, attempts to explain our seemingly instinctive moral knowledge. ... In the Phaedo, he reports a conversation in which Socrates argues that the nature of knowledge may demonstrate the soul to pre-exist the conception of the body. ... Plato used this argument as the basis for his doctrine on the Forms. ... This notably strengthened Plato's theory of an independent standard of goodness. ... In a Christian application, the Thomist argument from the gradation of being, was clearly influenced by the Theory of Forms. ...

• Word Count: 2979
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Much of Plato's beliefs on the soul can be found in his dialogues, "The Republic" and "Phaedo," where he describes that he is a dualist; this means that he believed that the soul and the body were two completely separate entities that worked in conjunction with each other to create what we would deem to be a reasonable human being. Plato aims to be able to prove this to everyone through rational logical arguments; most of these are established in "Phaedo." ... He believed that the soul, once the body has died, will go to the world of forms. ... A world of forms is almost impossible for th...

• Word Count: 1130
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

A case in point is the prevalent acceptance of Plato's dichotomy between mind/soul and body. This distinction has been presented in many forms : real vs ideal; spirit vs flesh; earthly vs ethereal; temporal vs eternal; imperfect vs perfect. If the layman were looking for support that philosophy has nothing to do with life in the real world, he could find no finer advocate than Plato, who in the Phaedo speaks through Socrates and suggests that to do philosophy is to prepare for death. ... My grievance is not simply that any philosopher took Plato's position on this dualism, wh...

• Word Count: 723
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• Grade Level: High School

Through the words of Plato his thoughts have been conveyed to generations since his time. ... In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates argues that the soul is immortal and that we must rise above our physical nature in order to gain true knowledge. In the Phaedo, Socrates friends suggest that the soul may perish. ... This form is dependent on what their former life involved. ... In this theory, Socrates still maintains his strong view that the soul is immortal. ...

• Word Count: 1300
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• Grade Level: High School

In Phaedo, Plato recalls Socrates' last hours of his life in a jail at Athens. The dialogue is told by his friend, Phaedo, who later told Echecrates [and later Plato ]. ... He argues his theory ofr immortality with three arguments, one of them being recollection. ... There must be some previous knowledge of absolute forms before being reminded of them by perception. ... Socrates' theory of recollection is not adequate for the idea that souls are immortal....

• Word Count: 609
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In The History of the Peloponnesian War, The Apology, Phaedo, and The Republic, it is evident how Thucydides and Plato define each of these aforementioned ideas. ... In Phaedo, Plato touches on Socrates' concept of the soul and discovers a unique form of inferiority. ... The second argument is the theory of recollection, this theory draws that all learning is a matter of recollecting what one already knows. ... The fourth argument, the theory of forms, shapes that unchanging and invisible forms cause all things in this world. ... He says that these laws offer equal opportunities to all, d...

• Word Count: 1697
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Augustine, proposed theories that have largely influenced many modern people's perceptions on the position of humanity. ... Does God or some form of the supernatural affect our existence and purpose? ... In Phaedo, Socrates states, "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, p.14). By making the purpose of humanity to obtain truth and then stating the body "prevents ...

• Word Count: 1726
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

the soul, that is, the human mind, before it is united with the body, is aquatinted with the intelligible world or the world of Forms. ... The theory of recollection is told through Plato in the Phaedo and the Meno. ... (Plato 80E) This theory of recollection may explain why we often say that we had certain knowledge before we leaned it or heard it for the first time. ... Hume shows how knowledge begins form the experiences we encounter through our five senses. ... (Cantor 12) Aristotle was one of Plato's students for over twenty years until Plato's death. ...

• Word Count: 1628
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• Grade Level: High School

Plato believes that an individual is human only to the extent that he resembles or participates in the Form "humanness." ... This is where Plato's theory of the Soul is established. ... A person can therefore suffer externally, and remain happy because there is harmony internally, in his soul ("Plato Theory of the Soul," online). ... Wisdom, Courage and Temperance are directly related to one's own self-control; Justice flows outward from this harmony, and is directed towards other people through acts of charity and kindness (Plato Theory of the Soul," online). ... This is...

• Word Count: 2720
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

As Plato once said "philosophy begins in wonder". ... (Magee, 1998) The belief differences between Socrates and Plato are hard to determine because they are based solely on Plato's writing, making them biased . ... One point that Plato and Socrates did disagree (according to Plato) was on the aspect of the human soul. In Plato's dialogue, Phaedo, which documents Socrates" final hours, Socrates discusses the fact that the soul is merely an extension of the body that dies with it. ... Aside from many complex discussions of Plato's dialogues, another pertinent topic that ...

• Word Count: 3385
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The main arguments concerning the immortality of the soul come from the Phaedo. ... It had to have come from some previous existence in some other form, which in this case would be hot. ... So therefore there must be a form of being dead, which we are to assume is the freed soul. ... At this point, Socrates seems to abandon this theory and brings out his second point. ... Therefore, Socrates" friends are forced to abandon their lyre and harmony theory. ...

• Word Count: 1264
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Philosophers, for example Plato, were believers in Physis. ... Plato agrees with Parmenides in many ways. ... In this sense, Plato is too a rationalist (122). ... Parmenides started rationalism and Plato continued with his theme. ... Plato also agrees with Heraclitus, "about the world revealed to us through our senses (122)." ...

• Word Count: 3636
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• Grade Level: High School

This bit of dialogue is important because it introduces the idea behind much of Plato's writing insofar as there is an instance here of the "one over many principle" which constitutes the theory of Plato's Forms. ... The "one over many principle" is the theory behind Plato's Forms which are presented and detailed in other dialogues (Phaedo, Republic, Meno, Parmenides, etc.). ... And the Form of Beauty is an intangible, divine, perfect, immortal theory of the idea of beauty-much like a sort of heaven for Plato. There are many other forms (the Good, the True, etc.) and the forms g...

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His student, Plato, is one of the only links between our world and the work of Socrates. ... Do you not know that by training, a puny weakling comes to better at any form of exercise he practices, and gets more staying power, than the mu...

• Word Count: 8371
• Approx Pages: 33
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School