The ‘souls exist in the world below’ bit is directly before what Eliezer quoted:
Suppose we consider the question whether the souls of men after death are or are not in the world below. There comes into my mind an ancient doctrine which affirms that they go from hence into the other world, and returning hither, are born again from the dead. Now if it be true that the living come from the dead, then our souls must exist in the other world, for if not, how could they have been born again? And this would be conclusive, if there were any real evidence that the living are only born from the dead; but if this is not so, then other arguments will have to be adduced.
Very true, replied Cebes.
Then let us consider the whole question...
But you’re right that nothing in the argument defends the idea of a world below, just that souls must exist in some way between bodies.
just that souls must exist in some way between bodies.
Not even that, at least in the part of the argument I’ve seen (paraphrased?) above.
He just mentions an ancient doctrine, and then claims that souls must exist somewhere while they’re not embodied, because he can’t imagine where they would come from otherwise. I’m not even sure if the ancient doctrine is meant as argument from authority or is just some sort of Chewbacca defense.
(He doesn’t seem to explicitly claim the “ancient doctrine” to be true or plausible, just that it came to his mind. It feels like I’ve lost something in the translation.)
The ‘souls exist in the world below’ bit is directly before what Eliezer quoted:
But you’re right that nothing in the argument defends the idea of a world below, just that souls must exist in some way between bodies.
The argument omits that living things can come from living things and dead thingsfrom dead things
Therefore, the fact that living things can come from dead things does not mean that have to in every case.
Although, if everything started off dead, they must have at some point.
So it’s an argument for abiogenesis,
Not even that, at least in the part of the argument I’ve seen (paraphrased?) above.
He just mentions an ancient doctrine, and then claims that souls must exist somewhere while they’re not embodied, because he can’t imagine where they would come from otherwise. I’m not even sure if the ancient doctrine is meant as argument from authority or is just some sort of Chewbacca defense.
(He doesn’t seem to explicitly claim the “ancient doctrine” to be true or plausible, just that it came to his mind. It feels like I’ve lost something in the translation.)