Due on Wednesday, February 18th.
In no more than 660 words or 2 pages, doublespaced, 1 inch margins, ordinary 12 pt font (e.g., Times):
At Phaedo 72b, Socrates says:
Socrates: If the two processes of becoming did not always balance each other as if they were going round in a circle, but generation proceeded from one point to its opposite in a straight line and it did not turn back again to the other opposite or take any turning, do you realize that all things would ultimately be in the same state, be affected in the same way, and cease to become?
He then applies that reasoning to death and birth (72d)
…if everthing that partakes of life were to die and remain in that state and not come to life again, would not everything ultimately have to be dead and nothing alive?
From this he concludes (72d):
Coming to life again in truth exists, the living come to be from the dead, and the souls of the dead exist.
Present, as clearly and carefully as possible, the argument Socrates gives in this passage. Be sure to clearly identify the conclusion, clearly identify the premises—i.e., the principles and assumptions Socrates and Cebes are making—and explain how the conclusion is supposed to follow from the premises.
Is the argument sound? If you think it is, identify the weakest point in the argument and defend it. If you think it is not sound, identify the fallacy that makes it invalid or the false premise that you reject, and defend your claim that that premise is false, or that the inference you identified is fallacious.
