Melinda and Melissa

Plato

Melinda and Melissa come to face their biggest challenge when they receive news that their brother Matthew has been in a bad accident and that both of them are given the power of attorney. This means that both Melinda and Melissa need to agree on what they should do to keep Matthew alive or let him be at peace. The issue is that how Melinda and Melissa define soul. Melinda sees the soul as temporarily housed in the body and that “His soul—Matthew’s soul. That’s what makes him the person he is.” Melissa's views are more scientific, stating the facts. If Matthew is brain dead, then Melissa sees that Matthew is gone. Melinda would like to convince Melissa that souls do exist and pulling the plug is not the answer.

Melinda will need to convince Melissa the same thought that Socrates has about soul. “Socrates has explained his good attitude in the face of death by invoking a certain "picture" or basic orientation in the universe. He believes that his true nature is to be a soul, which will separate from the body when the body dies. Once separated, the soul will be free to seek truth unhindered by the body, and, to a philosopher who has tried during life to make this separation for the sake of truth, death is a welcome event. Obviously, there are a number of claims about the nature of reality built into these views. For instance, souls must exist—meaning, souls are something “real”—and there must be somewhere for souls to "go.” There are two aspects of Plato’s defense that Melinda can definitely use when it comes to the soul which are: arguments of opposites and arguments of recollection.

In arguments of opposites, Socrates starts explaining his thoughts based on the relationship of opposites when Cebes asks him of what he has to say on his last day, how it relates to the soul. Socrates uses opposites of sleeping and waking up and then states the obvious of what is the opposite of life which is death and life is opposite of death. “Since "the living" are born from the "nonliving" (the dead), there must be something that "gives life." That something can only be a soul. So, there must be souls” In this case Melinda should ask the same type of question to Melissa on What is the opposite of living and what is the opposite of death? This way even though Melissa may not buy into there being a soul, it can make her