Background:
The philosophical subject of this dialogue is the immortality of the soul. It is set in the last hours before the death of Socrates and is Plato’s fourth and last dialogue to detail the philosopher’s final days, following Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito.
One of the main themes in the Phaedo is the idea that the soul is immortal. In the dialogue, Socrates discusses the nature of the afterlife on his last day before being executed by drinking hemlock.
By engaging in dialectic with a group of Socrates’ friends, including the two Thebans, Cebes, and Simmias, Socrates explores various arguments for the soul’s immortality to show that there is an afterlife in which the soul will dwell following death. Phaedo tells the story that following the discussion, he and the others were there to witness the death of Socrates.
Key Lessons:
Detach yourself from your bodily pleasures:
Socrates says that these are distractions to all those who seek knowledge, as, these pleasures keep us tamed and subdued under the delusion of comfort. One does not attain Truth by relying on his senses but only through reasoning. Even the fundamental aspects of pleasure and pain have to be put aside when pursuing Truth. The detachment of bodily pleasures allows us to exercise the virtue of moderation. We cannot say to not eat or drink, but do so in moderation and not only will you be less distracted by these fundamental pleasures but your abstinence will allow others a piece of the pie.
This can also be applied to all who seek a good life defined by virtue. For our bodily desires can distract us from helping others when necessary and put our own wants above others needs. This is in a generalised sense as I don’t believe in the existence of a self-less act as all things we consciously do, we do so in a belief that it’ll bring us pleasure. So the action can be right or wrong but the end goal of pleasure is certain. By detaching ourselves from our immediate pleasures we can allow ourselves to Reason for a higher pleasure of helping others by exercising moral virtue and attaining knowledge, which would lead to better decisions, which will lead to a better society, which would lead to a higher quality of life for you(because you’re a part of the society), which would fundamentally increase the pleasure experienced in your life.
Don’t fear death:
As Socrates puts it death is either a dreamless sleep or a passage to another life.
But one might say “it’s a cessation of life and i can’t spend time with the ones i love”. Well, fearing your unavoidable nonexistence won’t allow you to spend quality time with the ones you love and you most likely won’t have a say in “when” you die as you can’t predict the future, therefore, living a life of “just in case” is stupid because on this matter it’s certain.
So you should live life in a state of “Carpe diem (Seize the day)” or YOLO and also if don’t feel a deep sense of loss for all the things you missed out on before you were born, you should do likewise regarding the universe after your death.
Dangers of Misology:
Socrates says to not become misologues(Hatred of reasoning). Misology, he says, arises in much the same way that misanthropy does: when someone with little experience puts his trust in another person, but later finds him to be unreliable, his first reaction is to blame this on the depraved nature of people in general. If he had more knowledge and experience, however, he would not be so quick to make this leap, for he would realize that most people fall somewhere in between the extremes of good and bad, and he merely happened to encounter someone at one end of the spectrum. A similar caution applies to arguments. If someone thinks a particular argument is sound, but later finds out that it is not, his first inclination will be to think that all arguments are unsound; yet instead of blaming arguments in general and coming to hate reasonable discussion, we should blame our own lack of skill and experience.
Defining first principles:
In any quest, one should begin by understanding the fundamentals and to why they are the fundamentals. Socrates theorises the “Forms” to explain the nature of everything. Though Socrates made assumptions as to the existence of everything and their relationship to the “Forms”, it is clear to see what he was trying to do. He was aiming for an explanation which cannot be deduced any further through reasoning. As Socrates points out:
- “If someone said that without bones and sinews and all such things, I should not be able to do what I decided, he would be right, but surely to say that they are the cause of what I do, and not that I have chosen the best course, even though I act with my mind, is to speak very lazily and carelessly. Imagine not being able to distinguish the real cause from that without which the cause would not be able to act as a cause.”
