Plato's Thoughts On Immortality

Death is defined as "the separation of the soul from the body"; but is not the end of the soul. Plato believes in metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls from one living thing to another, and in reincarnation, the rebirth of the soul in new bodies. The Phaedrus offers proof of the soul's immortality, proving the existence of gods from self-generating motion. We are told, "All soul is immortal; for what is always in motion is immortal." A question is raised with this view: how do we know that the soul is "always in motion?" Plato says that it is the nature of the soul to initiate its own changes, to be self-moving, rather than merely moved. On this view, something that is self-moving "can neither be destroyed nor come into being." Plato believes that only a soul of a philosophical lover of knowledge and virtue is worthy of traveling beyond the process of rebirth to ultimate fulfillment.