The role of philosophy on salvation according to Plato

Salvation has always been considered as an important matter by most religions and the thought schools. Plato as an original philosopher, meditated on it. The result of his thought about salvation has been investigated in this essay. Thus, it had been found out that salvation and philosophy have a strong relation in Plato’s philosophy. Their relation has to do with the role of reason in his philosophy. Reason according to him, is a part of soul which makes us human beings and also could finally make us divine creatures. It means that human being, according to Plato, could free himself or herself from the cycle of rebirth with the help of reason and thus become a mortal living thing. In the other words, living things, according to Plato, are of two types: immortal and mortal. An immortal living thing is a winged soul patrolling all of heaven. When the soul sheds its wings, and wanders until it lights on something solid, where it settles and takes on an earthly body and makes it move, then it becomes a mortal living thing (human being). Therefore, whenever human being could come back to the heaven, he or she would be saved from the cycle of rebirth. However, salvation is only the result of life as a philosopher.