How Does Socrates Prove The Soul's Immortality

Plato’s “Phaedo” is a dialogue between Socrates and his friends, Cebes and Simmias. These two men have asked Socrates to prove to them that the soul survives after death due to its immortality. Socrates gives them several arguments, which ultimately lead to his conclusion that proves the soul’s immortality and furthermore its perishability. Socrates proves that soul lives despite the body’s death by showing that if an entity has a certain characteristic, it will not accept the characteristic that is the opposite to its own. Socrates believes that the soul and the body are two entirely different things; the body is created to disappear after death and the soul is created to exist forever after death.
The first argument that Socrates uses to explain the soul’s immortality uses snow and fire. He explains to Cebes and Simmias that snow
He reiterates his point that something cannot accept its characteristic’s opposite by stating that, “…not only opposites will receive opposites, but also that nothing which brings the opposite will admit the opposite of that which it brings, in that to which it is brought” (Plato 3). He says that one of the characteristics that the soul possesses is life, which is the opposite of death, so, “…the soul, as has been acknowledged, will never receive the opposite of what she brings” (Plato 3). Socrates explains that the soul can never admit death because it possesses a quality that is death’s opposite. When death approaches the soul, according to his previous arguments, it would either retire or perish; however, “…the soul when attacked by death cannot perish” (Plato 4) because the soul cannot admit death. He believes that when death comes to a man, his body dies, but his soul is preserved (Plato 5). Socrates proves that the soul will not admit death and when it is approached by death, it will not perish, but retire to another