Cebes's objection points out a weakness in the first and second arguments. If the soul exists in a body now, it must have existed before it entered that body. Suppose we grant that it requires that it survived the death of a previous body, and even many previous bodies. This, Cebes says, is like a human body outliving many different cloaks, which eventually wear out. Still, when a body dies, it may be wearing a cloak that will outlast it. So the body a soul inhabits right now may be the last body it inhabits. That body would survive as a corpse for a while after the soul has ceased to exist. What is there to prevent this?
16.3.09
Plato Part 19 - Objections to the Immortality of the Soul: The "Cloak" Objection
Cebes's objection points out a weakness in the first and second arguments. If the soul exists in a body now, it must have existed before it entered that body. Suppose we grant that it requires that it survived the death of a previous body, and even many previous bodies. This, Cebes says, is like a human body outliving many different cloaks, which eventually wear out. Still, when a body dies, it may be wearing a cloak that will outlast it. So the body a soul inhabits right now may be the last body it inhabits. That body would survive as a corpse for a while after the soul has ceased to exist. What is there to prevent this?
