The issue of whether the soul or the mind can exist separately from the body is one that has perplexed the world of philosophy for many centuries. Among the notable philosophers who attempted to tackle this issue include Socrates in Plato’s Phaedo and Descartes in The Wax Mediation. In their attempt to prove the existence of an entity separate from the body, the soul and mind respectively, the two philosophers despite using very different means, offered support for each other’s work. Therefore, since the works of the two philosophers seem to agree in their fundamental aspects, I believe that Socrates would hence agree with the conclusion that Descartes arrived at in his wax argument as his own arguments on the separate existence of the soul from the body support Descartes argument on the separate existence of the mind or intellect from the body. Specifically, the affinity and recollection arguments appear to directly support the wax argument.
In the wax argument, Descartes uses the example of a ball of wax to evaluate the senses, which are vital aspects of the physical body. Descartes states that we rely on our external senses such as that of sight, touch and smell to identify common objects such as a ball of wax. Due to its distinct features, one can easily recognize and identify a ball of wax upon touching, tasting or smelling it. However, in the event that the same ball of wax is introduced to heat, it will inevitably loose the set of features that assist us to identify it using our external senses. According to Descartes the same wax “that recently presented itself to me in those ways but now appears differently.” (7). That is, the ball of wax when melted will change in shape, size, texture, color and smell, bringing with it a whole new set of features. Descartes continue to state that despite this visible changes, the mind will still be able to identify the substance as wax. This argument is used by Descartes to explain how the external senses cannot be trusted since the properties that our senses use to identify everyday objects are bound to change when certain factors are introduced. However, our intellect allows us to view the same wax despite its changed state as just wax. It is therefore this intellect that Descartes views as a mind existing in parallel to the body. Through this mind, Descartes concludes that he exists as a thinking being and that the mind is far superior to the body in matters knowledge.