A Proof for the Eternity of the Soul in Plato’s View and its Implication for Avicenna’s Argument from the Soul’s Simplicity for its Eternity (A Historical Consideration)

In his Phaedo, Plato has presented three arguments for the soul’s posthumous eternity. The first two arguments are articulated in a mythical-philosophical way on the basis of consecutive cycles of births. The third argument presented by Plato for the soul’s survival after death is an argument from the soul’s simplicity. He maintains that what has no parts is not corruptible, and since the soul has no parts, it will be eternal after the bodily death and will not be annihilated. In Islamic philosophy, one of the most important issues about the soul is the soul’s eternity and its posthumous survival. Avicenna—the great Peripatetic philosopher—has presented arguments for the soul’s eternity. We believe that his most important argument is the argument for the soul’s eternity from simplicity, which was anticipated by Plato. In this paper, we seek to provide a historical consideration and analysis of Plato’s view and its impact on Avicenna’s simplicity argument. The method adopted by this paper is historical, involving citations of the texts, particularly those of Avicenna. The short reply to the main question of the paper is that Avicenna’s argument for the soul’s eternity from simplicity has a historical Platonic spirit.