Socrates s Principle Of Opposites - 1919 Words

Socrates s (Plato s) Principle of Opposites states that the same thing cannot do or undergo opposite things; not, at any rate, in the same respect, in relation to the same thing, at the same time. (436c) This is significant because it allows him to provide an avenue for proving that the soul contains more than one part via the use of internal conflict. He states that if an instance of opposites should occur, it would not be because the same thing was influenced in two opposing ways simultaneously, but because multiple things of a similar type were being influenced. He uses a top to illustrate. A top has two axes, and the top can be in motion in one way while remaining still in the other (436e). It cannot both be moving and still in the vertical sense, nor can it be both moving and still in the horizontal (he calls it circumference), but it can be moving in one way while still in the other. Thus, the top spins, but doesn t waver or move around (436e). He moves the example into the rea lm of agency. This principle of opposities applies also to the archer, he says, whose one hand is pulling and the other pushing in order to launch the arrow (439c). Socrates asks Glaucon if he s heard of thirsty persons denying themselves a drink (439d), and suggests that this seeming case of opposites (wanting to drink, not wanting to drink) arises from a similar case of differences. Just as the archer uses two hands to achieve his end, the soul has more than one part directing one sShow MoreRelatedPlato s Phaedo For The Immortality Of The Soul1701 Words   |  7 PagesPlato s final argument in Phaedo for the immortality of the soul is one of the most interesting topics of all time. The argument of whether the soul exists has been debated for years and even today. 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