Phaedo

he blames almost exclusively on the body (Phaedo, 66b). This leads to the second great tenet of the philosopher’s worldview, regarding the separation of body and soul. To Plato, the body is more or less a dirty vessel that the soul and abstract forms manifest themselves in, such as beauty (Symposium, 211d-211e). In fact, he despises the body so much as liken it to “bonds” that keep his soul from reaching its desired goal of attaining knowledge (Phaedo, 67c-67d). According to this view of…

Plato, a common theme arises among the three Platonic dialogues Apology, Crito, and Phaedo Death Scene: injustice. Apology details the trial of Socrates, and displays how the philosopher defended himself, and his character, against unfounded accusations. Crito narrates the interaction between Crito and Socrates, in which Crito tries to persuade the condemned to commit an unjust action in exchange for his freedom. Phaedo Death Scene recounts the execution of Socrates and the sorrowful reactions…

In the section by Phaedo, Socrates states, “I have been saying for some time and at some length that after I have a drunk the poison I shall no longer be with you but will leave you to go and enjoy some good fortunes of the blessed….”(Phaedo 115d). What Socrates essentially meant by this was that the “blessed” are philosophers who understood the truth and did not fear death. They were on earth to think and they understood that the body was something that just got in the way of knowledge. So even…

their whole life training for death and when death comes upon them they should embrace it rather than cowering in fear. Simmias had stated, “those who practice philosophy in the right way are training for dying, and they fear death least of all men.” (Phaedo 67e5-6). Socrates had stated that only a philosopher that is not afraid of death can possess the qualities of self-discipline and bravery. Self-discipline is very important to philosophers because it shows how much inner-strength they have…

of Socrates as discussed in the works of Plato. The main concept discussed in Plato’s works is the contrast between the world of the forms and the world of appearances. Socrates describes forms and appearances as “two kinds of existences” (Plato, Phaedo, 79a). He continues to say that the form is “by itself, it is always one” (Plato, Symposium, 211b). If the form is always one, then appearances are many. The form is invisible, appearances are visible. The form is the essence all common things…

wisdom and knowledge (Phaedo 66a). Plato believes that to attain true knowledge, the philosopher must separate him/herself from his/her body to the fullest extent (Phaedo 65a). Plato writes, “It really has been shown to us that, if we are ever to have pure knowledge, we must escape from the body and observe things in themselves with the soul by itself (Phaedo 66e).” He goes on to say that philosophers actively seek to distance themselves from their abhorrent body (Phaedo 65d). This…

Five Dialogues & Symposium: Socrates’ Search for Knowledge In Five Dialogues and Symposium by Plato, Socrates the Ancient Greek philosopher challenges his fellow men about the notion that they do not posses knowledge. The role of a philosopher is to reflect on life and ask existential questions because curiosity is innate in all humans. In Apology, Socrates expresses to the jury and judges at his trial, “they have been proved to lay claim to knowledge when they know nothing” (Apology, 23d).…

it is. He talks about the immortality of the soul in Phaedo and in the Republic. He has multiple arguments for how and why it is immortal, and every one of them makes sense to me. Plato’s writings on the soul are fascinating to me. All of the arguments he has to prove that the soul is immortal make me really think, and in some cases gave me words to describe something I had already thought about. When Plato writes about the soul in Phaedo, he gives several reasons why it is immortal. Not…

has learned everything in past lives. Thus, what men call learning is actually a process of recollection. I will first be giving context as to how this idea came into the dialogue with Meno. Next, I will explain how he puts the same idea forward in Phaedo and then noting the differences between the two dialogues. I will then point out a weakness in the argument and discuss how the idea is of the soul’s immortality in regards to learning as recollection is not flawless. At the start of the…

philosophy is probably right to be of good cheer in the face of death and to be very hopeful that after death he will attain the greatest blessings yonder,” (Phaedo 63e-64a). However, Plato also stated that those who do not love wisdom, righteousness, courage, freedom, and truth but instead love the body, wealth, or honors should resent death (Phaedo 68b-68c, 115a). Another way to view this is to say those who loved worldly materials should fear death but those who lived a life of goodness as…