One of the strange but interesting ideas that philosophers ask for debate is that of the true nature of the human being. Although each philosopher probably has his or her own perception of the true nature of being human, philosophers tend to share some of the same fundamental attributes in their definition. After reading the five dialogues of Plato and the six meditations of Descartes, I am led to believe that the two philosophers commonly share the idea that the human being can exist without the physical body; Plato by the soul and Descartes by the spirit. Besides the common thought of the existence of the human being separate from the body, Plato and Descartes also forcefully teach that human beings possess certain knowledge about higher powers that simply must be memorized throughout their lives. Besides these two similarities in the thoughts of Plato and Descartes, Plato believes that humans must spend their lives pleasing the gods and preparing for death in the hopes of obtaining a pure soul that will flourish in the beyond. it can help me to perceive wax or any other body which fails to make the nature of my mind even more manifest” (Descartes 23). As Descartes examines the information he receives from his senses, primarily from the experience with the wax, he observes that his senses can be misleading and full of doubts and therefore he cannot rely on them to determine if things really exist. On the contrary, his mind is the source of his knowledge of the existence of things and is therefore capable of existing distinctly from the physical body. Although Plato does not feel exactly the same way as Descartes, Plato believes that the human being exists distinctly from the physical body. ...... middle of paper ...... knowledge is only a form of memory or a gift from a Supreme Being. I tend to believe Plato's argument more. Although I strongly disagree with knowledge and reminiscence because I currently pay twenty thousand dollars to "learn", I do agree that the soul continues to live after the death of the body and eventually reincarnate in a new body after having experienced the afterlife. Death is a given in today's society, but I don't think our lives should be spent preparing for it, because God gives us the ability to do many more constructive and useful things rather than preparing ourselves when we die. Finally, Plato and Descartes teach us many ideas about the true nature of being human. Some similarities exist as well as some differences, but I believe that ultimately the true nature of being human is left to each individual's ideas..