p. 186 | PLATO AND HIS DOCTRINE by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 7, 1869

PLATO AND HIS DOCTRINE.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

The greatest name that appears in the history of the immortality of the soul, is that of PLATO. He was a Greek, born B. C. 428, and was one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity. “The influence of this sublime autocrat,” says Alger, “in the realms of intellect, has transcended calculation. However coldly his thoughts may have been regarded by his contemporary countrymen, they soon obtained cosmopolitan audience, and, surviving the ravages of time and ignorance, overleaping the bars of rival schools and sects, appreciated and diffused by the loftiest spirits of succeeding ages, closely blended with their own speculations by many Christian theologians, have held almost an unparalleled dominion over the minds of millions of men for more than fifty generations.” “Future Life,” p. 185.

His ideas concerning the immortality of the soul are now quoted with great satisfaction by believers in that doctrine. So much did he do for that doctrine that he often is called the father of it. Mr. Anthon expresses the sentiment which has led so many Christians to put Plato almost on a level with the Bible, when he says, “Whoever studies Plato is treading on holy ground. So heathens always felt it. So even Christians confessed!” “Classical Dict.,” Art. Plato. The reason why Plato is thus honored by Christians is revealed in the following statement of another author: “Plato is also celebrated as the first of the ancient philosophers who distinctly taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.” “Progressive Fourth Reader.” That it was not very plainly taught before, we have already seen. It needed the genius of a Plato to invent arguments to prove the soul immortal; and Christian theologians, in their defense of this doctrine, have only been able to take up and repeat his arguments. This fact Dr. Knapp honestly confesses: “In the varied web of proof [of the immortality of the soul] in our modern philosophical schools, the chief threads, and, as it were, the entire material, are of Grecian origin.” “The followers of Socrates, however, did the most for this doctrine, and especially Plato.” “Christian Theol.,” pp. 521, 522. Enfield says, “Even to the present day, Plato has many followers; his writings still give a tincture to the speculations and language of philosophy and theology.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 115. This is true; hence, we shall be interested to learn about Plato and his doctrine of the soul.

At the age of twenty, Plato became the disciple of Socrates. At the end of eight years, Socrates dying, he left Greece in search of wisdom. “He first visited that part of Italy called Magna Grecia, where a celebrated school of philosophy had been established by Pythagoras, and was instructed in all the mysteries of the Pythagorean system, the subtleties of which he afterwards too freely blended with the simple doctrine of Socrates.” “Enfield’s Hist. of Phil.,” p. 116. Thus at an early period we find Plato a disciple of the Pythagoreans and freely receiving their doctrines, the chief of which was the immortality of the soul. What Plato represents Socrates as saying about the immortality of the soul is only Plato’s own words and ideas put into the mouth of Socrates; hence, no proof that Socrates ever held or taught that doctrine. “It is remarkable,” says Leland, “that though there were several sects of philosophers which professed to derive their original from Socrates, scarce any of them taught the immortality of the soul as the doctrine of their schools, except Plato and his disciples.” “Necessity of Revelation,” Vol. II, p. 319.

That Plato went to Egypt and spent several years there learning of the priests, is so well known that I need offer but little proof of it. Says Enfield, “Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, and others, had derived their

knowledge from the Chaldean and Egyptian priests.” Again: “Plato visited Egypt in search of knowledge.” “Hist. of Phil.,” pp. 9, 36. Sozoman says, “Plato, the friend of Socrates, dwelt for a long time among the Egyptians in order to acquaint himself with their manners and customs.” “Eccl. Hist.,” p. 86. Hippolytus, thus states: “Pythagoras and Plato derived these tenets originally from the Egyptians, and introduced their novel opinions among the Greeks.” “The origin, then, from which Plato derived his theory in the Timaeus is the wisdom of the Egyptians.” “Refutation of Heresies,” chaps. xvi, xvii, pp. 215, 216. See also “Enfield,” p. 124. Then to the Pythagoreans first, and to the Egyptians next, was Plato indebted for his theories and doctrines.

Having learned the fountain from whence Plato drew his doctrines, we will now briefly examine his theory of the soul. We find him agreeing with his master, Pythagoras, 1. In the pre-existence of the soul. 2. That it was an emanation from God. 3. That it was immortal. 4. That it transmigrated through different bodies. And 5. That it would finally be absorbed into the Deity. We shall also find that he further improved and spiritualized this doctrine. 1. By making the soul purely spiritual and immaterial; and 2. By making the transmigration a moral doctrine instead of one of necessity.

Enfield thus describes Plato’s doctrine of God and matter: “Through the whole dialogue of the Timaeus, Plato supposes two eternal and independent causes of all things; one, that by which all things are made, which is God; the other, that from which all things are made, which is matter. He distinguishes between God, matter, and the universe, and supposes the Architect of the world to have formed it out of a mass of pre-existent matter.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 129. God did not create matter, but simply molds it, as we now see it. He taught that hateful doctrine that matter is the source and origin of all evil. Says a learned author, “It was also a doctrine of Plato that there is in matter a necessary, but blind and refractory force; and that hence arises a propensity in matter to disorder and deformity, which is the cause of all the imperfections which appear in the works of God, and the origin of evil. . . . This is the cause of the mixture of good and evil which is found in the material world.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 132. The effect of this doctrine was to degrade matter and exalt mind, or the soul. From Plato, as we will show, this doctrine was received into Christian theology and produced the ascetics and monks of the early centuries. Again, the above author continues: “Visible things were regarded by Plato as fleeting shades, and ideas as the only permanent substances. These he conceived to be the proper objects of science, to a mind raised by divine contemplation above the perpetually varying scenes of the material world.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 132. Here the same effect is seen to decry matter and exalt pure mind, spirit, or soul.

One fact is worthy of special attention; viz., that Plato places his doctrine of the human soul at the head of his philosophy. Thus testifies Enfield: “Plato refers to the head of the philosophy of nature, his doctrine concerning the human soul: a doctrine which he treats obscurely on the ground of his assumed hypothesis concerning spiritual emanations from the divine nature. He appears to have taught that the soul of man is derived by emanation from God; but that this emanation was not immediate, but through the intervention of the soul of the world, which was itself debased by some material admixture, and, consequently, that the human soul, receding further from the first intelligence, is inferior in perfection to the soul of the world. . . . The relation which the human soul in its original constitution, bears to matter, Plato appears to have considered as the source of moral evil. Since the soul of the world, by partaking of matter, has within itself the seeds of evil, he inferred that this must be the case still more with respect to the soul of man. . . . “To account for the origin and present state of human souls, Plato supposes that when God formed the universe, he separated from the soul of the world inferior souls, equal in number to the stars, and assigned to each its proper celestial abode; but that those souls (by what means, or for what reason, does not appear) were sent down to the earth into human bodies, as into a sepulcher or prison. He ascribes to this cause the depravity and misery to which human nature is liable; and maintains that it is only by disengaging itself from all animal passions, and rising above sensible objects to the contemplation of the world of intelligence, that the soul of man can be prepared to return to its original habitation.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 134.

Thus we see that Plato held that the soul was a spiritual emanation from God; that the source of all evil is in matter; that the body is a prison for the soul; that by contemplation the soul may return to God; &c. “Lastly, Plato teaches, in express terms, the doctrine of the immortality of the rational soul; but he rests the proof of this doctrine upon the more fanciful parts of his system.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 135. “Raising man above his condition and nature, he unites him to certain imaginary divine principles, leads him through various orders of emanations, and forms of intelligence, to the Supreme Being, and represents these fictions of fancy as the first principles of wisdom.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 126. The learned Mr. Anthon thus relates Plato’s arguments for the soul’s immortality as found in the Phaidon. Be it remembered that in this dialogue Socrates is only used as a mouth-piece for Plato to express his own ideas with. “Socrates,” writes Anthon, “undertakes to prove the immortality of the soul by its spirituality; and we have here the first traces of a demonstration which modern philosophy, under the guidance of revelation [?] has carried on to so successful a result. The doctrine which Plato here puts into the mouth of Socrates is not entirely pure; it is amalgamated with the Pythagorean hypothesis of the metempsychosis, and with all sorts of fables borrowed from the Greek mythology.” “Classical Dict.” Art. Plato. Here we have Plato proving the immortality of the soul by its spirituality. This was the first trace of that idea which modern Christian philosophy has carried on. This shows the origin of that doctrine. Plato was its legitimate father.

Plato taught that the transmigrations which any soul has to undergo are for its sins. When it is freed from sin it will be freed from transmigrating, will no longer be connected with a natural body, but will return to God and be re-absorbed into his being. If a soul has sinned much and is very vile, it will be born into the body of a degraded animal, as a pig or a dog. If it has been pretty good, it will occupy the body of a better animal, as a horse or a man, &c. Warburton and Knapp say this was a refinement of Plato’s upon the original doctrine of transmigration. “Divine Legation,” Vol. II, pp. 160, 161. “Knapp’s Chris. Theol.,” sect. 150, p. 523. This was the only hell that Plato really believed in. The vulgar notions of hell, hades, tartarus, and the torments there, he rejected as fables, though he often speaks of them in accommodation to the popular notion. So say Leland and others. “Necessity of Revelation,” Part 3, chap. 4, p. 315.

Plato held that the soul was a part of God. Thus writes Bishop Warburton: “Plato, without any softening, frequently calls the soul, God, and a part of God.” “Divine Legation,” Vol. II, p. 220. This is one of his strong proofs of the soul’s immortality. As a part of God, it will be re-absorbed into him either at death or as soon as sufficiently purified by transmigration. Hence, an eternal personal existence of any soul, either righteous or wicked, was out of the question. Plato did not, and could not, believe in eternal misery. This I have proved before. And his doctrine of the immortality of the soul was far from being that which now goes by that name. With Plato, the soul was immortal only as a part of God into whom it would finally be re-absorbed and lose all personal existence.

We will now briefly notice the history and influence of Plato’s teachings and followers. After finishing his travels, Plato returned to Greece, where he established a philosophical school, in which he taught his theory of the human soul, &c. It was largely attended, and became very famous and influential. Contemporary with Plato and his school, there were several other schools of philosophy, as the Stoics, &c.; but as none of them taught the immortality of the soul we are not now interested in them. It was through Plato and his disciples that this doctrine came into the church; hence, we are interested in their history. Enfield says, “The school of Plato long continued famous, but passed through several changes, on account of which it was successively distinguished into the Old, the Middle, and the New Academy. The Old Academy consisted of those followers of Plato who taught the doctrines of their master without mixture or corruption.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 137. The Old Academy continued till about three hundred years before Christ.

Then, under the teaching of ARCESILAUS, it passed into the Middle Academy. It differed from the Old in asserting that “everything is uncertain to human understanding, and, consequently, that all confident assertions are unreasonable.” “Hist. of Phil.,” pp. 142, 143. This school tended strongly to scepticism. It continued less than one hundred years, and met with much opposition. The New Academy succeeded it. CARNEADES, born B. C. 214, was its first teacher. It came back nearer to the doctrine of Plato. It allowed that a strong probability of truth might be attained by sufficient evidence. This school continued about one hundred years. “The last preceptor of the Platonic school in Greece was Antiochus of Ascalon. . . . He resigned the Academic chair B. C. 80. After his time the professors of the Academic philosophy were dispersed by the tumults of war, and the school itself was transferred to Rome.” “Hist. of Phil.,” p. 146. Platonism, having found its way to Rome, soon made its way into the Roman Church, as may be easily shown.

D. M. CANRIGHT. Monroe, Iowa.