Kyo 's Key Ideas from Phaedo
by Plató

Socrates explains that it is sometimes better to die than to live, and when Simmias asks how he can believe that philosophers should accept death but not suicidal thoughts, Socrates clarifies that people, unlike gods, should not decide when they die. Simmias and Cebes argue that since the gods rule over humans, it does not make sense for someone to look forward to death, as it would mean losing the guidance of a wise master. Socrates responds that he believes the soul is permanent, meaning that people will continue to serve the gods after they die.

Socrates says that those who practice philosophy properly are preparing for death. He argues that the body and soul are separate, using this to show that living without being affected by the body is preparing for death. Socrates contends that the physical world is full of distractions because our senses are not always accurate and cannot give us a true picture of reality. Therefore, philosophers free the soul from the body's influence so it can grasp the truth. Since death is merely the separation of soul from the body, living without the body's distractions is essentially preparing for death.

Socrates uses the idea that the soul lives on after death to argue that he has no reason to fear dying. He believes that death will finally allow him to find the knowledge he has been seeking, as his body will no longer distract him. Simmias counters that most people believe the soul disperses like breath or smoke upon death and that believing in the soul’s continuation requires considerable faith. Socrates responds by invoking an ancient theory that souls come from the underworld, suggesting that souls must exist there, as they would not return if they did not exist.

He explains that things come from their opposites, like how something becomes taller from being shorter and vice versa. Socrates argues that life and death are opposites that come from one another—being alive comes from being dead, and being dead comes from being alive. These changes balance each other out. He adds that if there were no corresponding process to waking from sleep, everyone would sleep forever. Similarly, if everyone died and never came back to life, no one would be alive. Simmias agrees and says he no longer worries about the soul’s immortality.

Despite agreeing, Socrates present a different view on the soul eternal existence He explain that people do not learn new things but recollect knowledge from past lives Socrates assert that the mind knows about the Forms—unchanging ideas not limited by the physical world. Simmias thinks of the idea of equality when he considers two things of the same size even though they are not perfectly equal. Socrates says this is because Simmias knows the Form of equality from his soul prior knowledge. If the Form exist and the soul has known them in past live, then the soul must have existed before birth

Simmias agrees with Socrates that the soul exists before birth but not necessarily that it lives on after death. Socrates responds that Forms are non-composite and unchanging, while real things, like people or clothes, are composite and always changing. He divides reality into the visible (the body) and the invisible (the soul). The soul becomes wise by rejecting the body’s desires. Socrates argues that the invisible part of life, being divine and deathless, contrasts with the body, which dissolves easily. A pure soul, gained through knowledge, will dwell with the gods after death.

However, if the soul was too involved with the physical world, it would suffer in the underworld and return as a lower being.

Simmias and Cebes express doubts but do not want to trouble Socrates, who is about to die. Socrates encourages them to voice their thoughts, so Simmias critiques Socrates’ distinction between visible and invisible aspects of life. Simmias argue that one could liken the soul to a harmony produced by a lyre, suggesting that even if the lyre is broken, the harmony (soul) would still exist. Socrates’ idea, he believes, does not make sense because harmony depends on the lyre.

Cebes uses the analogy of a weaver and his cloak, suggesting that the soul, like the cloak, might wear out and die with the body. The soul might go through multiple bodies but eventually could die with one of them. Socrates appreciates Simmias and Cebes’ objections, as they provide him an opportunity to clarify his views. He addresses Simmias idea of the soul as harmony by reaffirming the theory of recollection, which posits that the soul existed before the body. Socrates adds that the soul is not a product of the body and has always existed independently.

He (Socrates) argues that wickedness is discord, and something cannot be both itself and its opposite simultaneously.

Socrates responds to Cebes’ point about the soul’s general toughness by saying that it does not prove immortality. He recalls pondering the causes of generation and destruction in his youth and believed, as Anaxagoras suggested, that the mind directed and caused everything. Socrates’ own theory posits that things follow Forms that do not change. He explains that beauty itself is a Form, and through beauty, beautiful things are made beautiful.

This leads him to his final argument for the soul’s immortality: nothing can be both itself and its opposite at the same time. Since death is the opposite of life, the soul cannot admit death because it inherently brings life. After presenting his final case, Socrates shares his vision of the afterlife, where the souls of the good go to a pure dwelling place, others are punished and purified, and some are sent to the underworld, never to return. Socrates finishes his discourse by drinking the poison hemlock.

He walks around his cell a few times to let the poison take effect and then lies down while his friends mourn. He tells them not to be sad because his journey to the afterlife is not a sorrowful one. In his final words, he tells Crito to make an offering to Asclepius and not to forget this duty.