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Single Idea 5961

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 3. Innate Knowledge / b. Recollection doctrine]

Full Idea

From its composer the soul possesses all beautiful things, but from its former condition, everything that proves to be harsh and unjust in heaven.

Gist of Idea

The soul gets its goodness from god, and its evil from previous existence.

Source

Plato (The Statesman [c.356 BCE], 273b)

Book Reference

Plato: 'Statesman', ed/tr. Bernadete,Seth [University of Chicago 1986], p.23


A Reaction

A neat move to explain the origins of evil (or rather, to shift the problem of evil to a long long way from here). This view presumably traces back to the views of Empedocles on good and evil. Can the soul acquire evil in its current existence?