This essay will argue for Socrates’ views that one cannot both fear death, ultimately avoiding it at all costs, while acting in a manner that would be to one’s benefit. It is impossible to believe both of these statements because they are contradictory. In Apology, Socrates is put on trial, convicted of being guilty, and sentenced to death. After Socrates is told his fate, he makes a statement claiming that it is quite likely that this ruling is a positive thing, and people who believe that death is wicked are incorrect (Plato, Apology, 40b). This declaration, moreover, establishes that death is not to be feared. Socrates continues on to say, “either the dead are nothing, and have no perception of anything, or it is, as we are told, a change
