The immortality of the soul

The immortality of the soul Title: What arguments are there in the Phaedo for and against the immortality of the soul? Introduction A large portion of the Platonic dialogue Phaedo concerns itself with attempting to establish well enough the Socratic teaching of the immortality of the human soul. In all, there seem to be three main types of arguments for immortality offered by Socrates in the Phaedo. The first and third arguments are known by various names. The second main argument offered is generally known to everyone by the same name: the â€Å"recollection argument.† It should be admitted here that it seems more suitable to refer to these, not as strict proofs, but certainly as argumentative support for Socrates’ overall position of immortality. David Gallop seems to concur in his commentary on this passage of the Phaedo dealing with immortality. â€Å"Plato does not offer a set of discrete, self-contained proofs of immortality, but a developing sequence of arguments, objections, and counter-arguments,† (103).[1] Joseph Owens agrees that the Platonic arguments offered do go quite far in ma king their case,[2] though they fall short of establishing a certainty between immortality itself and an attending guarantee of immortality toward every human person. So whereas it is important to note the strength of the arguments, it remains to be seen whether their strength stands up to close scrutiny, especially the scrutiny offered by Socrates’ interlocutors. The First Main Type of Argument for Immortality Before entering into this argument proper, it would be beneficial to indicate what had been admitted prior to the first argument beginning at 69e. It was admitted by all Socrates’ listeners that the philosopher as the one who seeks after true wisdom and truth itself is aware that the body he inhabits works against these higher inclinations of the philosopher. The soul and the body are really distinct from each other. One could say that they are two separate substances, and the soul is clearly superior to the body. The soul seeks the higher things: the forms, truth itself, etc. But, the body interferes with these pursuits and brings down the soul from these great heights.[3] This is the metaphysical anthropology to keep in mind as underlying the arguments. Now onto the first type of argument, which has been categorized in several ways, depending on the commentator. It has been known as the cyclical argument, the opposites argument, or the argument from contraries.[4] We shall refer to it here by the latter option, though noting the cyclical nature presupposed by the argument from contraries.[5] The arguments begin as a result of a direct challenge by Cebes (69e6) that there have been many who have held that the soul perishes on the day of the death of the body. Socrates’ first argument in establishment of immortality begins by noting the received Greek â€Å"myth†[6] of the cycle of rebirth – the transmigration of souls (70c5). He proceeds to argue that in the whole of reality one perceives the â€Å"generation† of contraries one from another. â€Å"And the weaker is generated from the stronger, and the swifter from the slower,† Socrates notes.[7] From these several examples, he finally gets Cebes to admit that this principle applies equally well to life and death. Death is certainly generated from the living, and Cebes concedes that his only answer to what is generated from the dead is â€Å"the living,† (71d13). This â€Å"contraries† argument gains final strength with a type of modus tollens argument.[8] It could be structured in the following way. If the world were not cyclical in its generation of contraries, then all life would have reached the same state of death. All life has not reached the same state of death. Therefore, the world is cyclical (72b-d). This argument is a valid version of the modus tollens, and it anticipates objections like that of Copleston when he asserts that Plato’s first argument is reliant on the â€Å"unproved assumption† of an eternally cyclical world. However, the modus tollens above shows that it is much more than an assumption. He argues from the way things are now (i.e., continually generating and decaying and generating again) to the necessity of the cyclical world to account for present reality. Therefore, one would have to find a faulty premise in the argument in order to overturn it. Cebes, however, sees the force of the reasoning and accepts it argument wholeheartedly (72d4-5). The Second Argument for Immortality As noted earlier, this second argument is commonly called the argument from recollection. It supposes that when we know the Forms (or â€Å"Ideas†) through recognizing particular instances of those Forms, we could only do so if we were either (1) informed of all Ideas at birth (and then lost them immediately after we received them, which is absurd) or (2) merely recollect the Ideas from having known them previously (i.e., prior to our birth).[9] Hence, we all have existed previously. For example, in order to perceive equalities among things, we would have to already possess a notion of â€Å"absolute equality.† Else, we would not be able to recognize equality at all, if we had no prior Ideas with which to compare the instances of things we encounter in reality (74). Simmias and Cebes accept the force of the argument, though Cebes concludes by noting that Simmias raises an interesting point which implies that only half of the argument has been given in this second line o f reasoning. What one concludes from the second argument is merely that the soul existed and was vested with the Forms prior to its arrival on Earth (77c1-5). This does not, however, establish life after death – merely prior to death. However, Socrates’ retort is that the second argument is meant to be understood â€Å"in conjunction with the preceding argument,† (Copleston, 213). This satisfies both Simmias and Cebes, as they are moved along to the third argument given by Socrates, having to do with the very nature of the soul. The Nature of the Soul and Its Implications: Argument Three This is perhaps the most pointed of the arguments and crucial to be established in order to make the belief in immortality more firm. There are two aspects of this third argument, both of which deserve explication. The reason, it seems, why some philosophers prefer to call this the â€Å"affinity† (Gallop) or â€Å"likeness† (Stern) argument is that Socrates argues that the soul is able to peruse the invisible realm of the Forms, even though the body merely has contact with the sensible, physical world. In this way, the soul can be shown to have a propensity toward the realm of the Forms. It could be said to have a â€Å"heavenly† aspect to it, as it were. Since the forms are very clearly not subject to any change or decay, and the soul is readily in contact with them, it must be the case that this shows an immortal aspect of the soul (79). This aspect of the argument does have some force. Perhaps though the most pointed argument offered by Socrates is founded in the simplicity of the soul. Unlike any body, the soul, being immaterial, is not composed of parts. Every body though is composed of many and various parts. The soul, lacking any parts, therefore must be simple in its constitution (78b-80). Moreover, anything that is simple in its makeup is not subject to degeneration. Mortimer Adler explains, Degeneration is decomposition. The soul would be mortal, too, if it were materially constituted and decomposable. The crux of the various arguments that Socrates advances for its immortality, therefore, lies in two assertions he makes about it. It is immaterial; and it is simple, not composite. It must, therefore, continue to exist after the body perishes.[10] Richard Swinburne, in an article on â€Å"immortality† in the Oxford Companion to Philosophy reasons that since Plato argues that the destruction of anything consists (at least) in the disassembling of its various parts, yet the soul has no parts and is not spatial, it follows that â€Å"the soul can not be destroyed.†[11] Simmias’ Objection At the end of all of this there still remain objections in the Phaedo. Simmias offers one, which has been called the epiphenomenal objection (85e3-86d). According to Simmias, the soul could be seen as merely the harmony of the body, and when the body dies, that which gave it harmony dies alongside it. The Socratic reply is that the soul is the master of the body (i.e., it can control emotions and subdue desires), and it is not reasonable to think that that which merely is the harmonizing principle of a thing could simultaneously be the very ruler of it as well.[12] Concluding Thoughts There are many arguments offered by Socrates and, in the end, more or less conceded by all the participants in favor of viewing the soul as immortal. It seems that the strongest arguments unfold as the dialogue itself unfolds. The argument from the simplicity of the soul, while deserving some further explication and clarification (which subsequent philosophers do – cf. Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas), does ultimately stand up to the objections of his interlocutors. Whether they are altogether successful as a conglomerate or whether each one might stand on its own as sufficient of proving immortality is difficult to discern. Continued revisiting of these Platonic thoughts, however, seem certainly to be appropriate, as we have witnessed at times throughout this brief the various weaknesses of contemporary commentators on Plato. Works Consulted Adler, Mortimer J. The Angels and Us. New York: Macmillan, 1982. Copleston, Frederick. A History of Philosophy: Volume 1: Greece and Rome. New York: Image Books, 1993. Honderich, Ted, ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Owens, Joseph. A History of Ancient Western Philosophy. New York: Appleton-Century- Crofts, 1959. Plato. Phaedo. Translated with Notes by David Gallop. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988. Stern, Paul. Socratic Rationalism and Political Philosophy: An Interpretation of Plato’s Phaedo. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993. 1 Footnotes [1] Gallop goes on to note that these arguments of the Phaedo are to be contrasted â€Å"sharply with the solitary, and quite different, proofs of immortality in the Republic (608c-611a) and Phaedrus (245c-246a),† Phaedo, translated with notes by David Gallop (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), 103. [2] â€Å"The Platonic arguments have shown that the nature of the intellectual soul demands immortality,† A History of Ancient Western Philosophy (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1959), 234. [3] See especially Socrates’ pointed comments at Phaedo 66b-e. [4] Joseph Owens and Paul Stern refer to it as the â€Å"opposites† argument. David Gallop employs the category of â€Å"cyclical† and Frederick Copleston seems to prefer seeing it as an argument from â€Å"contraries.† [5] â€Å"Contraries† as opposed to â€Å"opposites† is preferred because, as shall be seen, the argument is not reliant solely on what are true opposites. There are many times when Socrates transitions to talking about gradations in types of being, rather than true opposites. Gradations can be included under the head of contraries. [6] Mortimer Adler refers to this as a myth rather than a religious or even philosophical doctrine that Plato inherits. Angels and Us (New York: Macmillan, 1982), 161. [7] Phaedo, 71, 3-4. All quotations from the Phaedo are from the older translation by Benjamin Jowett (rather than from that of David Gallop), unless otherwise noted. The Jowett translations of Plato have appeared in numerous editions and are therefore readily available. [8] Which, if the reader needs reminding, has the following construction: If P, then Q. Not Q; therefore not P. Or, P→Q; ~Q; à ¢- ¡ ~P. [9] This argument is worked out in much detail in another dialogue – the Meno. In that dialogue, Plato attempts to establish this, we may call it along with Copleston, a priori type of knowledge in all men by questioning a boy, who has never been instructed in mathematics, in basic principles of a mathematical proof. Through this questioning he is able to draw out of the boy an abstraction for a mathematical proof – a proof with which, prior to this questioning, the boy was altogether unfamiliar. [10] Angels and Us, 157. [11] Ted Honderich, ed., The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 396. However, immediately following this Swinburne proceeds to give the following objection, which he takes to be successful. He states that since an atom (which is physical) can be reduced to energy (which is also, in some sense, physical) and thus destroyed, it must not have to be the case that a thing must have its parts separated before it is destroyed. But, of course, the argument of Plato is untouched by such an objection. An atom is both physical and composed (of at least protons, neutrons and electrons). Hence, it bears no analogy to the soul which is neither physical nor composed of anything. [12] Frederick Copleston makes this point masterfully in his History of Philosophy, 207.

The Little Prince :: essays research papers

THE LITTLE PRINCE In the eyes of a child, there is joy, there is laughter. But as time ages us, as soon as we flowered and became grown-ups the child inside us all fades that we forget that once, we were a child. The story begins about drawings of closed and open boa constrictors. Later, the author relates a story about the Turkish astronomer who discovers the little prince's home, Asteroid B-612. When he presents his findings to the International Congress of Astronomy, dressed in his comical Turkish outfit, he is not believed. Man has not learned to look beneath the exterior, or rather, he has forgotten how. Because adults never look within, they will never know themselves or others. A fox is one cunning animal. And in the story, it is proven to be right. From the fox's lesson that one can see only what is essential by looking with the heart, the author leaves the desert as a changed person. He agrees with the little prince's thought: 'the stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen';.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The rose is very fragile and needs constant care. Love is not a matter of choice; it is a matter of consequence; indeed, it is a matter of survival. Men must learn to love one another or expire. Love is what gives life meaning. The little prince's love for his rose is so important to him that his love gives the author's life purpose and direction. The fox teaches the little prince how to love. It is the time that one 'wastes'; on someone or something that makes it important. It is the fox that tells us how love overcomes existentialism: 'One only knows the things that one tames… Men buy things already made in the stores. But as there are no stores where friends can be bought, men no longer have friends.'; The three volcanoes represent our problems. The active volcano is our current problems; the extinct, our past trials, and the dormant, the problems that we don't know if they are through or there are still to come. But as the rain stops pouring down, rainbow starts to form. Joy and pleasure must be earned-- not given or received -- like the joy the water from well gives to the little prince and the pilot. Its sweetness comes from the journey under the stars and the work of the pilot's arms making the pulley sing.

Why Should We Use Solar Power Environmental Sciences Essay

There are assorted beginnings of energy. We use heat energy obtained by the firing fuels like wood, coal, kerosine or cookery gas for cooking our nutrient.The energy fuels like gasoline and Diesel is used to run auto, coachs, trucks and train. Diesel is besides used to supply energy to run the pump for irrigation in agribusiness. Electrical energy is used for illuming the bulbs, tubings and to run wireless, telecasting, family contraptions, electric trains etc. Solar energy is besides used for cooking the nutrient, illuming the bulbs etc. In fact all over activities use energy in one signifier or the other. Energy is indispensable for our endurance in this universe The energy obtained from the Sun is known as solar energy. Sun is the beginning of energy. The Sun radiate more energy in one second than the people have used the since the beginning of the life. the energy radiated by the Sun comers from the Sun. the H atom in Sun ; s nucleus combine to organize one He atom. but the mass of He atom is less the four H atoms. It means mass has lost during the atomic merger.This lost mass is emitted as beaming energy. The solar energy takes merely 8 proceedingss to go the 93 million stat mis to the Earth. Solar energy travels with the velocity of visible radiation. This heat and light energy is radiated by Sun in all waies in the signifier of energy. The Sun has been radiating an tremendous sum of energy at the present rate for about 5 billion Old ages and will go on radiating energy at that rate for about five billion old ages more. Since Sun is really far from the Earth merely little fractions of energy radiated by the Sun reaches the outer bed of Earth ‘s ambiance. A little less than half of solar energy which falls on the fringe of the ambiance really reaches the surface of Earth. The solar energy which reaches the Earth is absorbed by land, H2O organic structures and workss. The solar energy trapped by the land and H2O organic structures causes many phenomena in nature like air currents, storms, rain, snowfall and sea moving ridges etc. Plants utilize the solar energy to fix the nutrient by the procedure of photosynthesis. History OF SOLAR ENERGY: As early in the seventh century B.C, people use amplifying glass to concentrate the visible radiation of Sun into beams so they would do wood to catch fire. Many of hundred old ages ago a scientist used heat from a solar aggregator to do a watercourse to drive watercourse engine. Solar boilers are invented by Charles Greely Abbott an American astrophysicist, in 1936. The solar H2O warmer gained popularity at the same clip in Florida, California and Southwest. Today people use heat energy to heat edifices and H2O to bring forth electricity. [ 3 ] SOLAR CONSTANT: The sum of energy received per second by one square metre country near the Earth infinite at an mean distance between the Sun and Earth is called solar constant.The energy near the Earth recieves from the Sun is about 1.4 kilojoules persecond persquare metre and this measure is known as solar constant.The mean distance between the Sun and Earth is astronomical unit ( 1.495*1011m ) . The solar invariable is represented as Ion. [ 4 ] SOLAR COLLECTERS: Capturing the solar energy and putiing in usage a hard work, because Sun does non direct a big sum of energy at one topographic point. The energy emitted by Sun at one topographic point depends upon certain conditions like the clip of the twenty-four hours, season, latitude of country and the clarity or cloudness of the sky.A solar aggregator is the manner roll uping the heat from the Sun. Devicess for capturing the Sun ‘s energy over a big country and concentrating it on a little country, thereby concentrating it. In this manner it can be made to supply highly high temperatures, used to bring forth steam that will used to transport out a chemical reaction to bring forth a portable fuel such as H. Solar aggregators may be curved dishes. Solar aggregator allows the sunshine in through the glass or plastic and the Sun visible radiation is changed into the heat energy. A really good illustration of solar aggregator is a auto standing in sunshine. On cheery twenty-four hours, a closed auto becomes a solar aggregator. Light energy base on ballss through the window glass and absorbed by the auto ‘s inside and converted into the heat energy. The auto ‘s spectacless do non let the light come out. That ‘s why green house stay warm around a twelvemonth. [ 5 ] [ 5 ] PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL ( SOLAR CELL ) : A photovoltaic cell is a device which converts the sunlight energy ( solar energy ) into electrical energy.these are besides known as solar cell or PV. The photovoltaic word has come from exposure agencies light and galvanic means a measurment of electricity. A individual solar cell can bring forth merely a little sum of electricity. To acquire a more electrical power a group of many cells joined together. The group of solar cell is known as solar panel or solar cell panel. Photovoltaic ‘s have long had many applications, such as PV-powered orbiters, tickers, and reckoners. The launch of Vanguard 1 in 1958, PV engineering is the energy beginning of pick for such extraterrestrial applications, orbiters and infinite investigations. [ 1 ] SOLAR Cookers: The solar cooker is the device is used to cook the nutrient by using the heat energy radiant by the Sun. It uses sunlight as beginning of energy. A box type solar cooker can be used to cook merely those nutrient stuffs which require slow warming. It can non be used for those stuffs which require high warming. For illustration it can non be used for baking and frying. It is used to cook the nutrient stuffs like rice, pulsations and veggies. The high temperature can be produced with the aid of concave mirror reflector. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] SOLAR SPACE Heating: It means heating the infinite inside a edifice. Today many places use solar energy for infinite warming. There are two general types of solar infinite heating systems: Passive Solar Heating Active Solar Heating Passive Solar Heating: In inactive solar warming, the edifice itself serves as a aggregator of solar thermic energy. Greenhouses made of glass or other crystalline stuffs are possibly the most good know application of inactive solar. A inactive solar house does non utilize any particular mechanical equipment to reassign the heat that the house collects on cheery yearss. A inactive solar place Acts of the Apostless as closed auto does. Sunlight passes through a place ‘s Windowss and is absorbed in the walls and floors of the houses. Active solar Heating: When solar energy is non plenty an active solar place uses mechanical equipment, such as pumps and an outside beginning of energy to assist heat the house Active systems use particular solar aggregators that look like boxes covered with glass. Dark-colored metal home bases inside the boxes absorb the sunshine and alteration it into heat. Solar concentrating mirror dishes CHALLENGES AND ECONOMICS: A A A The chief challenge confronting solar energy is that the Sun shines merely during the twenty-four hours or we can utilize solar energy merely in the presence of Sun. Summer is the clip of least energy demand for Alaskans, although this is besides the clip of twelvemonth with daytime. On norm, the sunniest parts of Alaska receive less than half of the sum of the entire solar energy throughout the twelvemonth. It is really less as compared the sunniest topographic points in the southwesterly US. Besides, large-scale storage methods for solar energy are non available today. Electric storage batteries are able to hive away merely little sums of electricity.A PV faculties typically produce the most power during the portion of twenty-four hours with the highest electricity demand, and PV-produced electricity remains really expensive compared to other beginnings of electricity. For most place applications, PV systems besides require expensive battery and AC inverters. A A A Solar thermal energy could be cost effectual for peculiarly in passive-solar designed places. For place installings, there are a limited sum of qualified commercial installers of solar energy equipment. A The on the job life-time of a PV faculty is around 40 old ages, the energy payback clip of such a faculty is anyplace from 1 to 30 old ages, and normally under five, depending on the type and the sum of Sun where it is used. This means that PV panels can be net energy manufacturers, and can â€Å" reproduce † themselves up to more than 30 times over their life-time. [ 8 ] ADVANTAGE OF SOLAR ENERGY: 1. Renewable Beginning of Energy: Solar energy is a renewable resource of energy. It can non be utilized at dark or on nebulose yearss, its handiness may be by and large relied upon twenty-four hours after twenty-four hours. The solar energy supply will last every bit long as the Sun. 2.Non Polluting Soruce Solar energy is non-polluting beginning of energy. It does non foul our air by let go ofing C dioxide, N oxide, sulfur dioxide into the ambiance like many traditional signifiers of electrical coevalss does. 3.Saves Money: The energy from the Sun is free. Solar energy does non necessitate any fuel. It reduces the electricity measure. The usage of solar energy indirectly reduces wellness costs. The supply of solar energy is non affected by demand of fuel. It is the inexpensive beginning of energy. The nest eggs are immediate and for many old ages to come. 4. Environmentally Friendly: Solar Energy is clean, renewable and sustainable, assisting to protect our environment. It does non foul our air by let go ofing C dioxide, N oxide, sulfur dioxide or quicksilver into the ambiance like many traditional signifiers of electrical coevalss does. It is non responsible for planetary heating, acerb rain or smog. It contributes to the lessening of harmful green house gas emanations. 5. The Need of No or Low Care: Solar Energy systems are maintenance free and will last for decennaries. Solar energy systems operate mutely, have no moving parts, do non let go of violative odors and do non necessitate you to add any fuel. We can acquire easy more solar panels in the hereafter. 6. Solar cells have a long life period. 7. It is used for cooking the nutrient saves cherished fuels like coal, kerosine and LPG. When nutrient is cooked in cooker in the presence of sunshine its foods do non acquire destroyed. Disadvantage OF SOLAR ENERGY: Besides such of import advantages, there are a few drawbacks of solar energy every bit good. The chief disadvantage is the cost of put ining a solar energy system, mostly because of the high cost of the semi-conducting stuffs used in constructing one. The most obvious one is that solar power can non be created at dark due to the absence of Sun. The engineering progresses bing system could dawdle behind and there is demand to recycle the PV. The installing of solar power equipments such as cells/panels is really expensive. It is a weak energy beginning as compared to fossil fuels. REFRENCES: [ 1 ] Pyhsics by Lakhmir Singh, Manjit Kaur [ 2 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter15.html [ 3 ] SOLAR ENERGY by HP GARG [ 4 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.science.org.au/nova/005/005glo.htm [ 5 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/SolarS.pdf [ 6 ] ecell.k12.hi.us/ †¦ /solar_cookers.htm [ 7 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //lsa.colorado.edu/summarystreet/texts/solar.html [ 8 ] hypertext transfer protocol: //ecofuture.net/solarpanels/2009/08/17/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-solar-power-for-home.html hypertext transfer protocol: //www.solarhome.org/infoadvantagesofsolarenergy.html

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