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The Last Argument of Plato's Phaedo. I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

D. O'Brien
Affiliation:
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Extract

This study offers a new analysis of the last argument of Plato's Phaedo for the immortality of the soul.

Interpretations of this argument and especially of the last section have differed considerably. Judgements on its value have usually been adverse. One scholar speaks of the ‘screen of unreal argument’ which concludes the proof, and writes that ‘from the standpoint of logic the argument has petered out into futility’. Another describes the final stage of the proof as ‘a blatant petitio principii’. A third remarks that the conclusion follows ‘if we do not look too closely’.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1967

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