ipl-logo

Plato's Theory Of Phaedo

683 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Socratic wisdom and the Socratic method

The Phaedo is Plato’s last written dialogue among four chronicling the final days of Socrates, in this dialogue Plato documents the very last moments of Socrates death in his prison cell. Socrates is incarcerated due to a guilty verdict by the Athenian courts for corrupting the youth through the influence of his philosophies which are contrary to that of the Athenian state and sentenced to death. Plato’s documentation of Socrates death is based on the first-hand account of Phaedo who is narrating the events to Echecrates in the town of Phlius. According to Phaedo, Socrates was surrounded by devoted friends who upon entering Socrates cell find that he had just been released from his chains and is composing a hymn to honor Apollo. The hymn provoked a philosophical conversation in which Socrates proclaims not to fear death. Socrates says he is certain that the soul is immortal and looks forward to the enlightenment achieved after death. Socrates then provides four theories in an attempt to prove the existence of an eternal soul: the Argument from Opposites, the Theory of Recollection, Argument from Affinity, and the Argument from Forms. Socrates theories are logical and wise but do not prove the existence of a soul. His first theory is the Argument from …show more content…

The theories presented seem to have already been established by Socrates long before the day of his death. The Argument from Opposites comes across as an acknowledgment of a natural balance in nature and does not prove we have a soul, only that humans have been living and dying for a very long time. The Theory of Recollection could easily be seen as proof of varying intelligence, which is why some people have a better natural grasp of certain concepts than others, they are just smarter. The Theory of Forms leaves one questioning each existences originality, I think humans are capable of achieving perfection in this

Show More
Related
254 Words | 2 Pages

In the scene in St 57A-59A, Phaedo explains Socrates’ death and last hours to Echecrates. He starts by confirming that he was with Socrates on the day that he died. Echecrates asks him why Socrates’ death was postponed to a long time after his trial. Phaedo explains that the postponing of Socrates’ death was purely coincidental. Socrates’ trial happened at a culturally significant time of the year for the Athenians.

Read More
745 Words | 3 Pages

In response to the long-standing philosophical question of immorality, many philosophers have posited the soul criterion, which asserts the soul constitutes personal identity and survives physical death. In The Myth of the Soul, Clarence Darrow rejects the existence of the soul in his case against the notion of immortality and an afterlife. His primary argument against the soul criterion is that no good explanation exists for how a soul enters a body, or when its beginning might occur. (Darrow 43) After first explicating Darrow 's view, I will present what I believe is its greatest shortcoming, an inconsistent use of the term soul, and argue that this weakness impacts the overall strength of his argument.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

The first concept that I noticed shared by Russell and Socrates was the concept that one had to remove themselves before serious philosophical contemplation could take place. In Russell 's case, he refers to the "Self" and the "Not-Self". With Socrates, as seen in the Apology, confronting his accuser about the corruption of youth, his accuser is silent because he had not given the matter any thought. Socrates awareness of his own ignorance frees him from what Russell would refer to as "Self". I mention this because it serves as a common theme even as both philosophers differ in their messages.

Read More
1518 Words | 7 Pages

Persuasion from ethos establishes the speaker 's or writer 's good character. As you saw in the opening of Plato 's Phaedrus, the Greeks established a sense of ethos by a family 's reputation in the community. Our current culture in many ways denies us the use of family ethos as sons and daughters must move out of the community to find jobs or parents feel they must sell the family home to join a retirement community apart from the community of their lives ' works. The appeal from a person 's acknowledged life contributions within a community has moved from the stability of the family hearth to the mobility of the shiny car. Without the ethos of the good name and handshake, current forms of cultural ethos often fall to puffed-up resumes and other papers.

Read More
376 Words | 2 Pages

Plato’s Apology is in the words of Socrates. The apology explains what Socrates though of death as he awaited his death after being condemned for not believing in God. He believed after death, one would either go to another world or be in a state of nothingness. He had the theory of death being a place where one would learn about life and talk to people that no longer walk the Earth. He supports his argument that death is a gain by explaining that he, Socrates, will get to speak to famous poets and past heroes.

Read More
1678 Words | 7 Pages

With the Apology, and the Crito, Socrates comes to delve into his many teachings and finds himself put to death with the words of wisdom that have been passed down generation after generation. Socrates for many in this present day is a man of many words and great teachings, but anyone but Socrates thought differently, in Athens people thought of him as an annoyance rather than an integral part of society. As Socrates stood in front of the counsel of judges, he stood for what he thought was right and never changed opinion of himself or of his words. That’s why Socrates is still talked about in classrooms everywhere today.

Read More
1314 Words | 6 Pages

Socrates was a greek philosopher who found himself in trouble with his fellow citizens and court for standing his grounds on his new found beliefs from his studies about philosophical virtue, justice, and truth. In “Apology” written by Plato, Socrates defended himself in trial, not with the goal of escaping the death sentence, but with the goal of doing the right thing and standing for his beliefs. With this mindset, Socrates had no intention of kissing up to the Athenians to save his life. Many will argue that Socrates’ speech was not very effective because he did not fight for his life, he just accepted the death sentence that he was punished with. In his speech he said, “But now it’s time to leave, time for me to die and for you to live.”

Read More
411 Words | 2 Pages

However, the number three cannot ever be even for it holds a natural form of oddity that cannot be changed, the same is found with immortality. A soul cannot admit to death, which is the opposite of its essence immortality just as the number three cannot admit to being even. Leading to Plato’s conclusion of how a soul then must have to retreat, connecting back to Socrates believing death is best characterized by the soul separating from

Read More
888 Words | 4 Pages

A man being executed for simply having different beliefs from his society is quite shocking in this current time period, though the Trial of Socrates depicts just that. In analyzing the Apology and Crito it is important to applaud and recognize how Plato’s use of rhetorical devices depict the law system of Athens in a negative light. In the Crito, Socrates states that he is choosing to die because he does not want to undermine the laws of Athens by fleeing, since he believes that the laws are just even if his sentence is not. Nevertheless, through using ethos to establish Socrates’ moral authority in the Apology and Crito, Plato leads his reader to draw the opposite conclusion about the Athenian judicial system. Leading the reader to question

Read More
1115 Words | 5 Pages

In Plato’s Apology, Socrates is put into trial because he is accused of corrupting the youth with his teachings that deviate from the established beliefs of the Greek society. Although he justifies that he is only doing what he believes is his duty, he reasons that even if he is given a death penalty, death is nothing to be feared. He raises multiple strong and effective arguments that explain to his audience that it is illogical to fear death. All of these arguments revolves around the central idea that death is not evil and that “no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death” (Apology, 41c). The first argument that Socrates presents during his trial is the idea that death is not the most important thing to worry about in

Read More
1421 Words | 6 Pages

Brian Diaz Professor Siddiqui Philosophy 1 20 January 2018 Second Paper: Conceptual Reconstruction (Crito, Meno, Phaedo) The dialogue of the Crito, by Plato, recounts the last days of Socrates ' life. In the dialogue Socrates ' old friend, Crito, proposes that Socrates escape from Athenian prison. Crito is a wealthy man from outside of town, a student of Socrates, and an old friend.

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

Socrates in the dialogue Alcibiades written by Plato provides an argument as to why the self is the soul rather than the body. In this dialogue Alcibiades and Socrates get into a discussion on how to cultivate the self which they both mutually agree is the soul, and how to make the soul better by properly taking care of it. One way Socrates describes the relationship between the soul and the body is by analogy of user and instrument, the former being the entity which has the power to affect the latter. In this paper I will explain Socrates’ arguments on why the self is the soul and I will comment on what it means to cultivate it.

Read More
633 Words | 3 Pages

In Plato’s, Phaedo, one of the arguments that Socrates makes for justifying his theory about the soul being immortal is the argument of opposites. The argument of opposites is found from 70c to 72c in the Phaedo. The argument is not logically valid as there are a few fallacies that occur with the definition of opposites with which Socrates defines his argument. This argument ultimately fails at being logically valid as contrary to premise 1, all things that have an opposite do not come from only their opposites. Socrates also does not specify in this argument whether he is referring to the soul dying or the body dying in the final premises.

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

Socrates’ original argument was not valid or sound. The premises were corrected but the argument needed another premise to make the conclusion true. Adding premise two takes away any confusion there was to what immortality meant. Since Socrates’ spent almost the entire book creating a just person and a just city the information about what is good and bad for a soul makes sense. It also makes sense that those things cannot destroy the soul because injustice and other vices could only lead the body to make poor choices and possibly get sick or die from those poor choices.

Read More
1064 Words | 5 Pages

All men are mortal. (premise) – 2. Socrates is a man. (premise) – 3.

Read More

More about Plato's Theory Of Phaedo

Related Topics

Open Document