Plato's Theory of Reincarnation: Eschatology and Natural Philosophy

Review of Metaphysics 75 (4):643-665 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article concerns the place of Plato’s eschatology in his philosophy. I argue that the theory of reincarnation appeals to Plato due to its power to explain how non-human animals came to be. Further, the outlines of this theory are entailed by other commitments, such as that embodiment disrupts psychic functioning, that virtue is always rewarded and vice punished, and that the soul is immortal. I conclude by arguing that Plato develops a view of reincarnation as the chief tool that the gods have to ensure that virtue is victorious over vice throughout the whole cosmos.

Similar books and articles

Punishment and Reincarnation.Thom Brooks - 2008 - Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion 13:21-37.
The Possibility of Reincarnation.Harold W. Noonan - 1990 - Religious Studies 26 (4):483-491.
Reincarnation redux.Steven D. Hales - 2001 - Philosophia 28 (1-4):359-367.
Plato's Theory of Colours in the Timaeus.Katerina Ierodiakonou - 2005 - Rhizai. A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science 2:219-233.
Socrates and Timaeus.Catherine Zuckert - 2011 - Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philosophy 15 (2):331-360.
The Sōma and The Psychē In The Gospel Of Matthew and In Plato’s Timaeus.Yip-Mei Loh - 2016 - People: International Journal of Social Science 2 (1):557-590.
Platonic Personal Immortality.Doug Reed - 2019 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 100 (3):812-836.
Is Plato’s Timaeus Panentheistic?Dirk Baltzly - 2010 - Sophia 49 (2):193-215.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-12-29

Downloads
3,544 (#1,701)

6 months
2,200 (#256)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

References found in this work

Creationism and its Critics in Antiquity.David Sedley - 2007 - University of California Press.
Plato's Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato.Francis MacDonald Cornford - 1935 - Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Publishing Company. Edited by Francis Macdonald Cornford.
An examination of Plato's doctrines.I. M. Crombie - 1962 - New York,: Humanities Press.
The Ideal of Godlikeness.David Sedley - 1999 - In Gail Fine (ed.), Plato 2: Ethics, Politics, Religion, and the Soul. Oxford University Press. pp. 309-328.

View all 31 references / Add more references