Plato's Pheado
... of, but instead venture deeper into the mental state to explore the unknown. Socrates states that the soul can best reflect when it is free of all distractions of the body, such as sight, speech, pain or pleasure. The soul should ignore these things as much as possible and become as independent as possible in its search for reality. There are such things as beauty and goodness; but we never see them with our eyes, nor apprehend them with any of our other bodily senses. These things are obtained only through the mental world and the thought of those ideas appear pure only because they are thought and not obtained through our sense. It is said in the Phaedo that no pure knowledge is possible in the company of the body, therefore, we can say that pure knowledge is possible only when our soul passes into the unknown and the body has deceased. Concentration on the pure realities can only take us so close to knowledge while we are still alive, however, if philosophers live their lives in a state that brings them as close to death as possible, it would be ridiculous for him to be distressed when death comes to him. ] The transmigration of the soul proceeds and claims that everything is generated through things successively taking on opposite states. Such as things alternating between big and small, strong and weak, life and death. This ultimately means that we could reach a final end-state and change would occur. Therefore our souls exist before and after death, the truth that changing things acquire new properties. Since things constantly change from one opposite state to another, we can say that Socrates is in one state, but then in time will be in another. In the Phaedo he is in the physical state, but after passing he will be in the mental state. Reality does not consist only of sensible things, in addition we find the forms to exist ...