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The myth of Err and Cosmology Analysis
Introduction
Plato’s myth of Er gives an account of the events of the afterlife while offering an in-depth detail of the journeys awaiting souls in the outer world. The tale effectively brings to an end and concludes Plato’s republic. It demystifies the cosmos and the life awaiting souls and how the concept of cosmic ideologies has influenced religious and scientific thoughts. Socrates tells the story of Er from his teachings and conversations based on Plato’s doctrines. While evaluating the mythical nature of the tale, and its vital reflection in Plato’s Republic, the account embodies and culminates Plato’s work. It presents an idea of one person and not the beliefs based on the entire culture, albeit it has no spiritual relevance, nor enough evidence to support the explanations of the natural phenomenon depicted in it. This paper aims to elucidate the myth of Er while offering the theory that best supports the fable.
The Myth of Er
The story commences with the depiction of Er, who is the son t Armenia, of Pamphylia dying in battle. The bodies are collected, and Er’s body does not decompose ten days after. He later revives in his funeral pyre and tells his story in the afterlife. From Er’s account of the events, there were four openings into and out of the sky with two on different sides. From these openings, good souls walked towards the sky, while the immoral souls moved below. However, Er’s soul is not directed anywhere but only told to observe everything and recount the events to humans back on earth. Souls that were released from underground were fined tenfold while other souls that remained underground belonged to murders and were condemned, and doomed in eternity.
The three distinctive sections in the story include; eschatological judgment, cosmological Necessity, and reincarnation (Richardson 113). The above-explained segment of the souls travelling into the skies to receive judgment is the eschatological judgment. The cosmological Necessity shows Er travelling with other souls as they see an intense rainbow-like light binding the universe. Here, he meets the spindle of Necessity, the eight sirens, and the three fates. The souls are then supposed to choose the forms they will become in the next life after which they are taken to drink from river lithe which takes away their memories. All this time, Er only observes, does not choose a form to reincarnate back into, and does not drink from the river. Due to this, he revives two days later on his funeral pyre in his own body. Generally, the tale explores the idea of moral people being rewarded and the immoral receiving punishment in the afterlife.
Analysis
From the account of Er, I agree with the concept of cosmic punishment and reward in the afterlife. From Plato’s theory of forms, he emphasizes on the physical world as not being real, or true (Sedley 10). Additionally, from the theory, Plato emphasizes that objects and matter are mere imitations in the physical world. From Er’s account, the souls are told to choose new forms they prefer to reincarnate back into. Therefore, it is true to assert that the physical world is a temporal sphere with consistent reincarnations after death.
Moreover, his theory of souls also offers a detailed analysis of the concept of death and reincarnation. That, when bodies die, the soul is incessantly reborn in subsequent bodies either in animal or human forms. Er’s story shows souls selecting to be reborn as animals if they were humans and vice versa. Plato also asserts that ultimate justice is the order and duty of the soul. Health is to the body, so is justice to the soul. When the body dies, the soul goes into the universe, or cosmos to be judged (Singpurwalla 114). The immoral souls in Er receive punishment while the good souls are rewarded.
Works Cited
Richardson, Hilda. “The Myth of Er (Plato, Republic, 616b).” The Classical Quarterly 20.3/4 (1926): 113-133.
Sedley, David. “An introduction to plato’s theory of forms.” Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements 78 (2016): 3-22.
Singpurwalla, Rachel. “Plato and tripartition of soul 1.” Philosophy of Mind in Antiquity. Routledge, 2018. 101-119.