7 - How to see an unencrusted soul

Summary

This chapter focuses on the force of the analogy and Socrates' prescription for recognizing the soul. It discusses the condition of the embodied soul compared with that of Glaucus. To look at the god in his sea-bound condition, encrusted with all sorts of marine detritus is, says Socrates, to be prevented from glimpsing him as he really is. Soul's independence from body is given by its distinct ontological status: indestructible as opposed to destructible. This independence is built into the metaphysical framework that the immortality argument has purported to establish. So those elements are essentially add-ons to the soul that will come and go with the body. Socrates lays great emphasis, on the objective of viewing the soul in its pure form. If the soul's ideal state is incompatible with embodiment, one can still speak intelligibly, where the soul is embodied, of one component being the natural ruler.