oach this subject of a final judgement, death. One of which is the soul. We need to understand the nature, behavior, and destiny of the soul, in order to understand what happens after death. These are all written about in Plato's Phaedrus, Republic, and Phaedo, respectively. Let us start with the nature of the soul. Plato believed that there are two parts to the soul. The lower part, the epithumiai, and the higher part, the logos. The logos is considered the immortal part. The epithumiai is chiefly concerned with the visible world, i.e. desires, passions. These are derived from love, or eros. So the soul is directly linked to love. Plato emphasised this point many times as to him Philosophy was love! It can be said that to him Philosophy was like a religion for only with that much devotion could he truly reap the rewards of truth. Platonic "love" is frequently misunderstood as meaning non-carnal love. In this point of fact, not only carnal love compatible with platonic love but it is also a necessary stage in the development of a true appreciation for beauty. We are meant transcend or outgrow this first stage of Platonic love. Plato says "it is great folly not to acknowledge that the beauty exhibited in all bodies is one and the same.(he) will relax the intensity of his passion for one particular person" (Symposium 211a). Plato placed, in my opinion, the most importance on this understanding of absolute beauty. As a Platonist I think this acquiring of knowledge through the appreciation of beauty is what I should be doing to prepare for the "end", it is the MOST important factor. An example of this importance is again shown in the Symposium 211a, " when a man starting from this sensible world and making his way upward by a right use of his feeling of love of boys, begins to catch sight of that beauty, he is very near his goal." He goes on to talk about how this is the right way to start life, to use "examples of beauty.as steps to ascen...
