Topic 6: Plato: What is death? Are we immortal?

What kind of dialogue is the Phaedo

A middle dialogue

Plato’s understanding of a theory

A likely account or story for something that needs explanation respective to our human existence, our existential situation, and helps us understand ourselves, our human nature within the wider scope of things.

Who is Phaedo?

He turns out to be the person telling the story, a witness to the events of
Socrates final few hours in prison. Echecrates, his friend, wants to know all about it

Philosophers Detachment from the Body

Philosophers believe that when your body encages your soul so when you die, your soul departs from your body

Socrates explanation of recollection

• You see one thing that reminds you of something else

• It can either be something like or not like

• And from there we can judge whether to the reminder is defective or not

Forms

Ideals/Exemplars. Eternal, unchanging, perfect realities (e.g., Human, Tree, Equality,
Virtue, Beauty, Truth, Goodness, Geometrical Shapes)

The Soul

Transcendent and separate from the body before we were born. We know of the soul’s transcendence because of the kinds of objects it knows or desires to know (ideals, perfections, universal truths)

Soul in the Body At Birth

Forgets knowledge of the Forms and of the transcendent Soul. Perceives only sensible particulars.

Sensible Particulars

Mountains, trees, imperfect triangles, imperfect examples of virtue. Are imperfect “copies” of the ideal Forms/Exemplars. Only “participate” in the Forms.

Are sensible “reminders” of the Forms we can use to “recollect” the Forms (like seeing a friend’s picture or their umbrella).

“Recollection” done by the soul’s “reason” (rational inference and dialogue). Reason frees the Soul from its “prison” in the body and returns it to its ideal home.

Socrates: “care of the soul” is the “practice of dying”