Phaedo is one of the most important Plato’s dialogues where Socrates speaks about the mission of philosophy, philosophy, the distinction between body and soul. One of the crucial arguments Plato puts forward through Socrates’ words is that philosophers are amongst the most virtuous people in the world. After their death, as Socrates says, philosophers are equaled by gods to the greatest men in human history.
First of all, it should be remembered that the dialogue fibula takes place some hours before Socrates’s death sentence came into action. Socrates explains that philosophers should not be afraid of death because it is something that nobody can not positively whether it is good or bad. Socrates says that he as a philosopher may wait for death patiently however it does not allow him to commit suicide. The line of the argument though it is simple includes many illuminating great ideas and assumptions.
Phaedo says that philosophers are ‘on a high rank’ in another world since even during their life “the philosopher more than other men frees the soul from association with the body as much as possible.” That is why they are welcomed and praised by gods as equals having more to do with Spirit than with Matter.
Then it should be noted that Socrates’ argument is to a large extent is based on the distinction and dualism between body and soul. According to Socrates only philosophers are the most intellectual and purified from ‘material’ people who are even during their life ‘God-like’. This is connected by the fact that they draw on the eternal ideals and forms of “Life”, “Justice’, “Courage” etc. and more than other people aware of their mission and ‘ideal’ life after death which would bring them a possibility to touch and be the eternity.
Socrates anticipates death since he is tired of feeling himself within this ‘material cell’ of his body. He dreams to meet all the best philosophers, poets, singers, and politicians after death which would allow him to spend much time debating philosophical issues.
For this central argument to be defended Socrates puts forward the arguments showing that a soul is immortal and hence philosophers will benefit from their full and strong soul in the future and those people whose soul was atrophied the future in other world is not so benevolent.
Socrates puts forward four arguments concerning the soul’s immortality – that is the opposites argument also called ‘cyclical argument’ stating that all that exists has its opposite which. So, as body and soul are two opposites and one of the – body – ‘perishable’, hence soul is ‘imperishable’. Another argument that proves the immortality of the soul is the theory of recollection used by Plato to explain why people possess the knowledge they were never taught. According to Plato, this means that the soul remembers it as it is eternal. Another argument is the so-called affinity argument claiming that as a soul is immaterial and simple it can’t die. And finally, one of the most notable arguments put forward by Plato is the argument from Form claiming that all things participate in a given Form (type). For instance, beautiful objects are involved into the Form of Beauty, and the soul is involved in a Form of Life as its nature and cause.
As we see, the arguments put forward by Plato play a crucial role in defending the thesis that philosophers, that is those who have soul almost free from body are the most virtues and courageous.
In the second part of this essay, we are going to see what phrases and arguments met in this particular dialogue further characterize Plato’s stance on philosophy, the mission of philosophers, the nature of forms, ideas, and so forth.
According to Socrates body is the main impediment to finding truth since it contaminates Reason with primitive material desires which distract a person’s real interests in knowledge and ideal. Thought body is a great obstacle for philosophers they try to avoid its negative effects by means of permanent training and abstention from seductions.
For Socrates those people were truly virtuous during their earthly life as philosophers are will be honored by gods by eternal immortality. Their souls will be permanent dwellers in the underworld spending time in an ideally free and virtuous atmosphere. In contrast, those people who were not virtuous during their life and used it only for the bodily pleasures are destined to soon return to their material living. This happens because mentioned category of people (majority) did not succeed in the task of freeing their soul from material frailty. It is not surprising therefore that Plato’s philosophy received so ‘warm welcome’ in Christian theology during Middle Ages.
Socrates claims that “God orders me to fulfill the philosopher’s mission of searching into myself and other men.” Hence, as Socrates says to Simmias in Phaedo philosophers should wait for death as the most realistic opportunity to achieve real knowledge of the truth. Socrates postulates that empirical senses are deceivable and distracting and “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 being?”
According to Plato, the objects of philosophy are ideal essences and forms which cannot be perceived by human’s empirical senses such as sight, hearing, etc. but only by intellectual and logical efforts of our soul and mind. The forms are for instance logical generic categories which would be letters classified by Aristotle have nothing to do with individual things. The ideal of Love, Justice are never meet in pure forms but serve the role of regulative ideas which help people modify their behavior and deeds in accordance with higher principles.
To sum it up, Phaedo offers some of the most illuminating arguments on the essence of philosophy, the greater mission of philosophers, and the nature of soul and life.