Socrates Perception Of Immortality In The Apology

BACKGROUND:

The following notes describe the background of the time period and the culture. This is for better understanding of the text, relevancy, and application of Socrates’ views in regards to the ancient time period and our life.

-Pythagoreans view on death consisted of a belief in immortality of the soul, reincarnation in human or animal form, and the concern to keep the soul pure by avoiding contamination of the body. Socrates uses these themes to discuss his own perception about immortality. Socrates, however, avoids these terms in the Apology, where he expresses himself unconcernedly about the possibility of immortality.

- The objective Socrates is trying to strive for is based on forms. Every human’s knowledge derives and has a

Yet perhaps he will not take his own life, for that, they say, is not right. As he said this, Socrates put his feet on the ground and remained in this position during the rest of the conversation. Then Cebes asked: “How do you mean Socrates that it is not right to do oneself violence, yet that the philosopher will be willing to follow one who is dying?” Socrates begins to describe his first opinion of death: suicide. In these lines, he questions whether Evenus is a philosopher. He then goes on to say that a true philosopher should not be able to take his own life. It is not right for the philosopher to do such a thing; however, the philosopher has to be able to “follow one who is dying.” This means that a philosopher that attempts suicide for the sake of ending himself/ selfish reasons is not a true philosopher. On the other hand, a philosopher, who is willing to die to follow the example of someone who is purer than him is just and

A true philosopher frees the soul from “association” with the body. The main point of philosophy is to “search for knowledge”. However, our physical senses are not precise enough to distinguish this true knowledge. It feeds us information, but it is the soul that grasps the truth. We our easily deceived by the senses because it prevents and distracts us from seeing “reality” (64e-66).

- There are things such as Just and Beauty that exist and cannot be detected by the human eye. So, whatever prepares a person best to grasp this concept will come the closet to achieving knowledge. A true philosopher believes that there is some path to guide us from evil and confusion. We need our body to nurture us throughout the journey, but as long as we have a body, the soul is under sin and temptation (“the body causes war, civil discord, and battles” 66c).

-If we are to obtain pure knowledge, we have to escape from our bodies. This freedom only occurs in death. The soul is a completely different entity than the body. The soul is on the path to purification and wisdom, while the body drags the soul away from this journey. True happiness is fostered by the body like a vessel, but if a person can overcome this, he has reached true