Hansen Breitling
History of Philosophy: Medieval
2/2/14
Synoptic Paper on Plato: Topic 1
Phaedo and Phaedrus, the two works of Plato this paper will discuss, gave an image of
the soul that has had as lasting an impact as any philosophical work. This essay will briefly
summarize Plato’s view on the human soul. As Plato says, the task of explaining the soul is
really a task for a God (Phaedrus, pg.524, par. 246-a), so I will simply discuss three of the most
important parts of Plato’s view on the soul. The first part will consist of the characteristics of the
soul. Secondly I will review how Plato says the soul comes to reside in a human body. Finally I
will spotlight the relationship between the soul and the body. Let us begin then with some
description of the soul.
According to Plato, the soul is both separate from the body, as well as immortal. He
explains this by reasoning that what is always in motion can never die because death is simply
the end of motion. Souls are what he calls sources, that is to say they are entities that are not
moved from outside forces, but instead all locomotion is generated from within (self movers).
Any object that has its motion stem from within is said to have a soul, while any that doesn’t
possesses no soul (Phaedrus, pg.524, par.-c-e). This also explains why the soul and body are
separate; one is immortal and one very much mortal (the former generates movement while the
latter is moved). I will move on now the process of how a soul makes its way to a body.
Plato uses a very elaborate metaphor to explain the journey of the soul to the body. It is
difficult to tell though which parts are metaphorical and which real. So instead of outlining such
a metaphor I will boil down his message to its core. In his account, souls usually take up
residence near heaven (the realm of the Forms). There they are treated to frequent glances at
these ideals, such as Beauty, Justice, and Strength. However sometimes the souls go too long
without seeing these ideals and they begin to sink towards Earth. There they are chained to
bodies (the consequences of which will be discussed in the next section). The souls then must
undergo great lengths in order to fulfill once more their desire to see the Forms. Now I will finish
with the account of how the soul and body interact.
Souls naturally seek out the ideals that cannot be found in our (human) world. In fact it is
the body which prevents the soul from seeing these ideals, as our senses trick us and our desires
(carnal and materialistic) blind us from what shadows of Forms are to be found in our visible
world (Phaedo pg.57, par. 66). The fundamental relationship of the body and soul is that of
anchor and ship. One’s body prevents him/her from being able to see the glimpses of the Forms
and reach towards them.
This paper has reviewed three of the essential features of the soul for Plato; a few of its
features, the way it finds its way to the body, and the effects of the soul residing in the body.
This extremely brief overview has hopefully given the reader an idea of just how complicated
and important Plato’s vision of the soul is.