1.1 Introduction
Most Christian Churches teach that souls either suffer in hell or enjoy in heaven, according to their lives on earth. Many Christians believe that on the last day of the world, God will raise each person's body from dead and reunite it with it's souls. In Igbo traditional society, the idea of immortality of the soul is a serious issue. This is more especially portrayed in their traditional burial rites. Madam Orie Nwa Odo said that the traditional Igbo man or woman does not accept to call somebody who has passed away “a dead man”. Rather they say that the “dead man” “traveled”, hence the dead person is called onye gara ije (he who has traveled).6
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Historically, the first comprehensive idealist theory of the soul in the Western tradition was put forward by Plato. The Orphic-Pythagorean influence on him is most evident in his conception of the nature of the soul. He approached the subject from a purposive or functional angle. For him, the function of the soul is to control the body. The body does not operate on its own accord; as body, it is lifeless, therefore, its animation comes from something outside, which controls and directs it. That something is the soul. For him, the soul is incorporeal and consists of the intellect (reason) and the senses, the emotions and the will.
The soul is something divine in man; it is immortal, immaterial or spiritual. It formerly existed without a body and will continue to exist after its separation from the body at death. But it will have to go through a series of re-incarnation until it is able to achieve final liberation or release. Then it will go back to the world of forms from where it came. Plato also adds original element to his conception of the soul and that is the area he borrowed from orphic - Pythagoreans. The soul according to him is made up of three parts, namely, the rational part, the spirited part and the appetitive part. The rational part is the highest part of the soul; it is the part of the soul which is indestructible and immortal and which could control man. It is the part of the soul which distinguishes man from the animals. Its function is mainly to guide man and bring the other parts under control. The spirited part corresponds to man's lower emotions and sensual desires. Plato illustrates this tripartite nature of the soul with the image of a charioteer and two horses, one of which is interactable and very difficult to control, while the other is tamed and behaves properly. The charioteer is the rational part of the soul (reason). The tamed horse is the spirited part (the higher emotion), while the bad and interactable horse is the appetitive part (the lower emotions or sensual desires). It is the duty of the charioteers (reason) to direct the two horses (the higher and lower emotions) and bring then under control.'
With a number of arguments including logical and epistemological ones, Plato establishes that the soul is an immortal and incorporeal substance. The claim for immortality of the soul amounts to dualism. It is a belief that somehow the soul is capable of existing independent of the body. This view stands in contrast to physicalism according to which there is no such thing as soul. So, the immortality of the soul is not a problem for the physicalist.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Critical Appraisal on Plato's Immortality of the Soul.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation reveals the problem of the research work which entails that, there is the problem of individuation and identity. If the soul is a different stuff from the body and the soul is part of the transcendental reality which we perceive as ideal forms, we have the problem of how and why the soul is detached from the transcendental and individuated in the person. This closely associated with the problem of identity, which is concerned with how and why James soul is different from John's since they come from or are of the same stuff.
The fact that each person has a different soul stems from the fact that in Plato's conception, the person is identified with the soul, and the rear different personalities manifested in different behaviours, among other things. This means that the soul in different personalities is different. Plato himself observes that there are bad souls in which the sensitive and the appetitive parts exert undue control or influence on the rational part.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to Critically Appraise the Plato's Immortality of the Soul. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To assess the body that hampers the philosophical activity of Plato's Immortality of the Soul
- To investigate the with the body that leads to deception
- To show the contrary to the majority’s view on the soul survives death in Plato's Immortality.
1.5 Significance of Study
This study will be of immense benefit to researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
Finally, this research work will be of immense importance to the researchers, since it is a practical requirement for the award of Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Science Technology of the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu.
1.6 Scope of Study
The study focuses on the Critical Appraisal on Plato's Immortality of the Soul.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
