In the reading, "Phaedo" from the Great Dialogues of Plato, Plato states his views based on what Socrates says before his death among many other philosophers. Socrates claims that, "The fact is, those who tackle philosophy aright are simply and solely practicing dying, practicing death, all the time, but nobody sees it."(p.466) Plato explains the many meanings of Socrates declaration. His claims range from; how man isn't supposed to commit suicide because it is not permissible, to how the soul leaves the body after death and finds a new body to take over.
Socrates talks of the human soul and its adventures after its initial beholder. He makes claims that the human soul lives on forever, therefore he states that the human soul is immortal. He says that life is just preparation for what happens to you, whether bad or good (heaven or hell), after you die. If you are a decent person you will have a good after life and that should be everyone's goal, according to Plato. Other philosophers in the group argue that the soul is not immortal, but has its own life span. It doesn't die after its initial bearer dies, but has a life span of its own and will die when it is ready. Other philosophers argue that the soul dies with the human body. Socrates has many explanations on why the human soul is immortal, which are revealed in the writing.
The argument of opposites is brought up many times in the passage. Socrates argues that everything that happens, takes place because of its opposite. In this case, he claims that a human is once alive, and eventually will become dead. Similarly, he claims that for something to become alive, it once has to start off being dead. Therefore, the human must come from a previous living human being that died. To some people, this may not make sense according to Socrates statement that the human soul never dies. According to his rule of opposites, something alive must have come from something that has desisted.
