Explain Plato's Argument For The Immortality Of The Soul

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Explain and assess the part anamnesis plays in Plato’s argument for the immortality of the soul. Plato’s theory of the soul includes a few fundamental claims, that in his opinion directly result from one another. His first claim is that what we call learning is actually remembering. Therefore we must have already known all that we learn. This means we must have gained this knowledge sometimes before birth. That proves that the soul must be immortal. He attempts to prove this theory in Meno where he uses the method of elenchus, which by asking and answering questions illuminates ideas. In this essay I will point out where his arguments fail to support his theory and I will use the ideas of some other philosophers to compare them with those of Plato and offer some other arguments he could have used instead and theories that directly follow. My first dissent is against Plato’s main argument supporting the theory of the immortality of the soul. He states that because we are only remembering everything we now know, we must have learned it sometimes before birth. He believes that this circle goes on forever and therefore the soul must be immortal. I think that this is the…show more content…
This makes him seem less reliable and his theories sound less plausible. In this essay I have pointed out the main problematic areas of his arguments and have suggested a few different ways to look at them to make them sound a bit more convincing. Perhaps if Plato had looked to other philosophers for inspiration and had he given more attention to the details of his arguments, his theory of anamnesis and the immortality of the soul could have been a huge breakthrough with the potential to be taken seriously up until current days. This way, although inspiring the thought of many philosophers to come after him, it is very unlikely that his theories hold any
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