Book contents
- Pythagoreanism and Plato
- Italian Classical Scholarship In Translation
- Pythagoreanism and Plato
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Sonnet for Bruno Centrone on His Seventieth Birthday
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations and Transliteration
- Introduction
- Chapter 1Logical Alētheia, Ontological Alētheia in Plato
- Chapter 2Pathos and Ousia in Plato’s Early Dialogues
- Chapter 3The Eidos as Holon in Plato and Its Reflections in Aristotle
- Chapter 4Platonic Virtue as a Holon
- Chapter 5Phaedrus 261e6–262c3 and the Deception of Good Rhetoric
- Chapter 6Personal Immortality in Plato
- Chapter 7The Anterastai and Plato’s Erotic Dialogues
- Chapter 8Aristotle’s Testimony on Pythagorean Principles in Metaphysics Alpha
- Chapter 9Pseudopythagorica Ethica
- Chapter 10Being Pythagorean in the Imperial Age
- Index Locorum
- General Index
- References
Chapter 6 - Personal Immortality in Plato
Another Noble Lie?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 October 2026
Book contents
- Pythagoreanism and Plato
- Italian Classical Scholarship In Translation
- Pythagoreanism and Plato
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Sonnet for Bruno Centrone on His Seventieth Birthday
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations and Transliteration
- Introduction
- Chapter 1Logical Alētheia, Ontological Alētheia in Plato
- Chapter 2Pathos and Ousia in Plato’s Early Dialogues
- Chapter 3The Eidos as Holon in Plato and Its Reflections in Aristotle
- Chapter 4Platonic Virtue as a Holon
- Chapter 5Phaedrus 261e6–262c3 and the Deception of Good Rhetoric
- Chapter 6Personal Immortality in Plato
- Chapter 7The Anterastai and Plato’s Erotic Dialogues
- Chapter 8Aristotle’s Testimony on Pythagorean Principles in Metaphysics Alpha
- Chapter 9Pseudopythagorica Ethica
- Chapter 10Being Pythagorean in the Imperial Age
- Index Locorum
- General Index
- References
Summary
The aim of this paper is to reassess a major issue related to Plato’s theory of the immortality of the soul, namely whether for a soul being immortal has to meant in the sense of ‘personal immortality’ (i.e., a person’s soul remains this person’s soul after that person’s death), ‘individual immortality’ (i.e., there is a plurality of individual immortal souls), or ‘cosmic immortality’ (i.e., only a cosmic psychic principle is immortal). More specifically, the paper shows that the first option is untenable from both philosophical and textual perspectives and that the second one is not only the most supported by textual evidence but also the most profitable from a philosophical point of view, whereas the first is introduced for pedagogical purposes, that is, as a noble lie.
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- Pythagoreanism and PlatoSelected Studies, pp. 102 - 120Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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