Phaedo summary. SparkNotes_ Phaedo_ Summary (1).pdf 2023-01-06
Phaedo summary
Rating:
8,8/10
1480
reviews
Free essays in English on different topics can be a useful resource for students, researchers, and anyone interested in learning more about a particular subject. These essays can cover a wide range of topics, from literature and history to science and technology.
One advantage of free essays is that they are easily accessible. With just a few clicks, you can find hundreds of essays on a variety of topics. This can be especially helpful if you're working on a research project and need to gather information from multiple sources.
Another benefit of free essays is that they can provide new perspectives and insights on a topic. Often, students are required to write essays on topics that they are already familiar with. However, reading essays written by other people can help to expand your knowledge and understanding of a subject. This can be especially valuable if you're struggling to come up with new ideas for your own essay.
It's important to keep in mind that free essays should be used as a starting point rather than a definitive source of information. While they can provide valuable insights, they may not always be reliable or up-to-date. It's always a good idea to do your own research and verify the information you find in free essays before including it in your own work.
Overall, free essays in English on different topics can be a useful resource for students and researchers looking to expand their knowledge and understanding of a particular subject. By using them as a starting point and verifying the information you find, you can gain valuable insights and perspectives on a wide range of topics.
The Philosophical Aspects of Plato’s Phaedo Free Essay Example
Some of them, who have practiced the civil and social virtues by habit rather than reflection, may be expected to pass into some gentle social nature like that of bees or ants or even back again into some human form. Cebes remarks that one proof of the recollection theory can be established simply by asking questions. Before being a field of study, it is above all a way of seeing the world, of questioning it. Within the middle dialogues, it is uncontroversial that the Phaedo was written before the Republic, and most scholars think it belongs before the Symposium as well. 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. To begin, he says that nothing can be itself while also being its opposite. If every soul is an attunement, no soul is in discord, and every soul is equally good.
Next
Plato: Phaedo Summary
However, he was astonished by the way Socrates answered. Upon inquiry, the brain will ring a cognitive bell, and he or she will recall something learnt previously Brann et al. The reader of the dialog is bound to be impressed by the courage and fortitude that Socrates possesses in the face of imminent death. Even though it is of an invisible and heavenly nature, it will perish sooner than what remains of the broken lyre and its cut strings. The account begins with Socrates proposing that though suicide is wrong, a true philosopher should look forward to death.
Next
Phaedo 78b
Socrates contends that the proof has already been given since it has been admitted that everything living has been born of the dead. The fact that his wife, Xanthippe, and their infant son were excluded from the company of visitors who had arrived at the prison on the last day of his life has sometimes been regarded as evidence of harshness in his attitude toward them. The interview is not described because Phaedo did not witness it. Simmias suggests the possibility that souls are like the smoke that comes out of a chimney and then disintegrates into thin air and vanishes away. We do not know the exact order in which Plato's dialogs were written, but it seems fairly certain that the Phaedo was not one of the early Socratic dialogs written during his more youthful period, nor was it a product of his late or more advanced years. He points out that the faith and hope with which the philosopher faces death is in perfect harmony with the principles by which he has regulated his whole life. When Crito asks him what his final instructions are for his burial, Socrates reminds him that what will remain with them after death is not Socrates himself, but rather just his body, and tells him that they can bury it however they want.
Next
Phaedo Summary & Analysis
The reason for this is that harmony cannot exist prior to the elements out of which it is composed. You are only dead when this separation has been completed. He thinks it quite possible that upon its release from the body, the soul may disintegrate and like smoke or air vanish into nothingness. After all, he not only believes that his soul will go on living, but that it will achieve a higher form of existence. Summary Cebes and Simmias are doubtful creatures. At this point, Crito interrupts the conversation to inform them that the jailer has requested Socrates not to talk so much lest the heat generated by his talking might interfere with the action of the poison he must take and thereby make it necessary to have it administered more than once. Cold is the opposite of heat, but it is not true that either one is changed into or actually becomes the other.
Next
Phaedo: Summary
He believes, too, that the doctrine of reminiscence offers further proof of the thesis that Socrates has been ex-pounding. The latter is thrilled, and although he agrees with Socrates that the soul exists before birth, he wants to know what proof ascertains that the soul indeed exists after death Westerink, 2009. Then he has a bath, says some last goodbyes, drinks the poisonous hemlock, and drifts imperceptibly from this world to the next. He begins by asking Simmias if he is still in agreement with the doctrine that knowledge is recollection and that from this it can be inferred that souls have existed prior to their entrance into bodies. The officer says goodbye to Socrates, offers his best wishes, and then bursts into tears and departs. He mentions that both he and Cebes have certain questions that they would like to have clarified. Calling upon The Theory of Recollection, he explains to Simmias that humans never learn new knowledge.
Next
Phaedo Study Guide
It was not, however, a cogent piece of reasoning since it ignores the distinction between condition and cause, a point that Socrates apparently recognized at a later stage in the discussion. The soul in which the essences, or ideas, are present is uncompounded, changeless, and is not perceived by the senses. The first is the Argument from Opposites. Thus, Crito should not be upset to see Socrates' body buried or burned, since that body will no longer be Socrates. Socrates replies to Simmias by pointing out that his theory of attunement is in conflict with the Theory of Recollection, which proposes that the soul existed before the body. He would be grieved at death if he did not believe the soul would fare better after death than when it is dwelling in the body. He took this to mean that everything was arranged for the best.
Next
Phaedo Summary Essay
Their punishment will be of their own doing, as they will be unable to enjoy the singular existence of the soul in death because of their constant craving for the body. Cebes admits that perhaps the soul is long-lived, and can outlive many bodies, but argues that this does not show that the soul is immortal. This notion has to do with his Theory of Forms. They will continue to wander until the desires that haunt them have been satisfied, after which they will be imprisoned in another body. Suppose someone were to say that since a man lasts longer than his cloak, it follows that if the cloak is still there the man must be there too.
Next
Phaedo 115b
He came to the conclusion that the physical sciences could provide no answers to the questions he had in mind. He believes that Cebes is also convinced that this is true, but there is one further question concerning which both Cebes and Simmias are in doubt. In the Phaedo we find Socrates a seventy-year-old man about to die, and propounding all sorts of Platonic doctrines. A theme that has run throughout the dialogue is the idea that a philosopher is someone who prepares himself for death. In the Cyclical Argument, he uses opposites to show where things come from, whereas now he is solely concerned with looking at the exact nature of a thing at one time.
Next
Phaedo summary
Socrates says that this is only because their hypotheses need clearer examination—but upon examination they will be found convincing. The officer has grown very fond of Socrates, and the two have had many conversations together. He does not elaborate on this suggestion, however, and instead proceeds to offer a third argument. What about the future of these evil souls when they are released from the body? With regard to the distinction between good souls and evil ones, Socrates recognizes that freedom of choice is given to each individual. Hackett Publishing Company, 1977.
Next