The two proofs that Socrates used to convince his friends are the Doctrine of Opposites and the simple and composite theory. .
The first proof, the Doctrine of Opposites, is the type of proof that uses a sequence of factual statements that lead from one to another to prove that one thing is the same as another thing. The Doctrine of Opposites uses simple references to allow the reader to easily comprehend and follow the steps of the logical process. For example, hot comes from cold. An object could not possibly be hot if it was never heated up from the state of being cold. The same holds true for the reverse of this analogy, as a cold object must have at one point been cooled down from a state of being hot. Since hot and cold are opposites, this simple statement proves that things come from there opposite. Also by using this example, Socrates is trying to imply the idea of eternal existence. He is saying that cold doesn't come from thin air. It had to have come from some previous existence in some other form, which in this case would be hot. Another example that he uses is the asleep and awake analogy. One would have to agree that a person could be only one or the other. If you are not sleeping, then you are awake and if you are not awake then you have to be asleep. This example further proves that you can only be one of something or the other, its opposite, but you must be one of them. Sleep can not come from thin air, and neither can being awake. A person must physically be one before that person can become the other. Then Socrates ventures to say that if you are not alive then you are dead. This idea works because to prove the theory of immortality, according to the previous two statements, life must come from it's opposite, which is death. So therefore there must be a form of being dead, which we are to assume is the freed soul. This appears to be a valid proof until one of Socrates" friends, Cebes, brings up a counter point.
