[76c]
“Then, Simmias, you do not think all men know these things?”“By no means.”“Then they recollect the things they once learned?”“Necessarily.”“When did our souls acquire the knowledge of them? Surely not after we were born as human beings.”“Certainly not.”“Then previously.”“Yes.”“Then, Simmias, the souls existed previously, before they were in human form, apart from bodies, and they had intelligence.”“Unless, Socrates, we acquire these ideas at the moment of birth; for that time
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 1 translated by Harold North Fowler; Introduction by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1966.
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