Phaedo Wikipedia. This article is about the Platonic dialogue. For people with this given name, see Phaedon name. Phdo or Phaedo Greek, Phaidn, Greek pronunciation padn, also known to ancient readers as On The Soul,1 is one of the best known dialogues of Platos middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The Phaedo, which depicts the death of Socrates, is also Platos fourth and last dialogue to detail the philosophers final days, following Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito. In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the nature of the afterlife on his last day before being executed by drinking hemlock. Socrates has been imprisoned and sentenced to death by an Athenian jury for not believing in the gods of the state though some scholars think it was more for his support of philosopher kings as opposed to democracy2 and for corrupting the youth of the city. The dialogue is told from the perspective of one of Socrates students, Phaedo of Elis. Having been present at Socrates death bed, Phaedo relates the dialogue from that day to Echecrates, a Pythagoreanphilosopher. By engaging in dialectic with a group of Socrates friends, including the two Thebans, Cebes, and Simmias, Socrates explores various arguments for the souls immortality in order to show that there is an afterlife in which the soul will dwell following death. Here is a collection of the alltime best famous Rudyard Kipling poems on PoetrySoup. This is a select list of the best famous Rudyard Kipling poetry by famous. We analyzed 2100 travel travel blogs in 7 categories and rated them with 0 to 5 stars. The biggest travel blog award on the internet. How is your rankingPhaedo tells the story that following the discussion, he and the others were there to witness the death of Socrates. One of the main themes in the Phaedo is the idea that the soul is immortal. Socrates offers four arguments for the souls immortality The Cyclical Argument, or Opposites Argument explains that Forms are eternal and unchanging, and as the soul always brings life, then it must not die, and is necessarily imperishable. As the body is mortal and is subject to physical death, the soul must be its indestructible opposite. Plato then suggests the analogy of fire and cold. If the form of cold is imperishable, and fire, its opposite, was within close proximity, it would have to withdraw intact as does the soul during death. This could be likened to the idea of the opposite charges of magnets. The Theory of Recollection explains that we possess some non empirical knowledge e. The Form of Equality at birth, implying the soul existed before birth to carry that knowledge. Another account of the theory is found in Platos Meno, although in that case Socrates implies anamnesis previous knowledge of everything whereas he is not so bold in Phaedo. The Affinity Argument, explains that invisible, immortal, and incorporeal things are different from visible, mortal, and corporeal things. Our soul is of the former, while our body is of the latter, so when our bodies die and decay, our soul will continue to live. The Argument from Form of Life, or The Final Argument explains that the Forms, incorporeal and static entities, are the cause of all things in the world, and all things participate in Forms. For example, beautiful things participate in the Form of Beauty the number four participates in the Form of the Even, etc. The soul, by its very nature, participates in the Form of Life, which means the soul can never die. The Phaedo was first translated into Latin from Greek by Henry Aristippus in 1. Today, it is generally considered one of Platos great works. SummaryeditIntroductory conversationeditThe scene is set in Phlius where Echecrates who, meeting Phaedo, asks for news about the last days of Socrates. Phaedo explains why a delay occurred between his trial and his death, and describes the scene in a prison at Athens on the final day, naming those present. He tells how he had visited Socrates early in the morning with the others. Socrates wife Xanthippe was there, but was very distressed and Socrates asked that she be taken away. Socrates relates how, bidden by a recurring dream to make and cultivate music, he wrote a hymn and then began writing poetry based on Aesops Fables. Socrates tells Cebes to bid him his friend farewell from me say that I would have him come after me if he be a wise man Simmias expresses confusion as to why they ought hasten to follow Socrates to death. Socrates then states. Cebes raises his doubts as to why suicide is prohibited. He asks, Why do you say. Socrates replies that while death is the ideal home of the soul, man, specifically the philosopher, should not commit suicide except when it becomes necessary. Man ought not to kill himself because he possesses no actual ownership of himself, as he is actually the property of the gods. He says, I too believe that the gods are our guardians, and that we men are a chattel of theirs. While the philosopher seeks always to rid himself of the body, and to focus solely on things concerning the soul, to commit suicide is prohibited as man is not sole possessor of his body. For, as stated in the Phaedo the philosopher more than other men frees the soul from association with the body as much as possible. Body and soul are separate, then. The philosopher frees himself from the body because the body is an impediment to the attainment of truth. Of the senses failings, Socrates says to Simmias in the Phaedo Did you ever reach them truths with any bodily sense I speak not of these alone, but of absolute greatness, and health, and strength, and, in short, of the reality or true nature of everything. Is the truth of them ever perceived through the bodily organs Or rather, is not the nearest approach to the knowledge of their several natures made by him who so orders his intellectual vision as to have the most exact conception of the essence of each thing he considersThe philosopher, if he loves true wisdom and not the passions and appetites of the body, accepts that he can come closest to true knowledge and wisdom in death, as he is no longer confused by the body and the senses. In life, the rational and intelligent functions of the soul are restricted by bodily senses of pleasure, pain, sight, and sound. Death, however, is a rite of purification from the infection of the body. As the philosopher practices death his entire life, he should greet it amicably and not be discouraged upon its arrival, for, since the universe the Gods created for us in life is essentially good, why would death be anything but a continuation of this goodness Death is a place where better and wiser Gods rule and where the most noble souls exist And therefore, so far as that is concerned, I not only do not grieve, but I have great hopes that there is something in store for the dead., something better for the good than for the wicked. The soul attains virtue when it is purified from the body He who has got rid, as far as he can, of eyes and ears and, so to speak, of the whole body, these being in his opinion distracting elements when they associate with the soul hinder her from acquiring truth and knowledge who, if not he, is likely to attain to the knowledge of true beingThe Cyclical ArgumenteditCebes voices his fear of death to Socrates. In order to alleviate Cebes worry that the soul might perish at death, Socrates introduces his first argument for the immortality of the soul. This argument is often called the Cyclical Argument. It supposes that the soul must be immortal since the living come from the dead.