ul is immortal. As was stated, there is no example of true perfection in our world. Yet, we can imagine the idea of perfection. Where could this idea come from if we have not experienced it in our world? We must have experienced it at some point if the idea is within us.Thus, Plato argued that the soul must have existed outside of the natural world. In order for this to be so, it must be immortal, living before it came into this world. It only stands to reason, Plato contended, that it must continue to exist after it leaves this world. How else would it have been in existence before it came into this world? Plato believed that it was a rational assumption that our soul must continue to exist even after our death. Whether Plato believed that the soul migrates from one lifetime to another, one body to another, some would say is unclear. However, I believe that the idea of recollection leans heavily on the assumption that the soul is residing within the invisible realm before it comes into existence in the physical realm.If the soul migrates from one body to another at one person's death and another's birth, then we would still have no explanation for the soul's knowledge of the forms. For wouldn't the previous life have been spent in the natural world, just as this life is? As has already been argued, there is nothing perfect in this world and, therefore, no way of discerning the true forms. Thus, if the soul resided in this physical world in its previous life, where would it have gained knowledge of the forms?Therefore, I believe that Plato's intention was that the soul resides within the invisible realm until its birth into the natural world. It is while it resides within this realm and experiences the perfection of the forms and The Good, that it gains true knowledge. This true knowledge is remembered when the soul experiences, within the natural world, something resembling the ideal forms.It follows, therefore, that when th...
