Socrates: life, philosophy, and influence in ancient Greece

¶ … Socrates' Phaedo with special focus on his conception of life and death. It uses the Phaedo as a source.

True knowledge is something that individuals would like to achieve. This is because in true knowledge lies the solutions to problems in life that each one faces. Accepting that human life is full of flaws, one can see that having true knowledge means that these flaws can be removed. However, it must also be realized that human beings face large obstacles that prevents them from reaching this truth. This is because the human body and soul are said to co-exist for as much time as the body manages to stay alive; being mortal, one's life has to end, at one time or another. During the co-existence of the body and soul, it is the soul that is deprived of achieving true knowledge and the truth because it is the body that is easily distracted. Socrates demonstrates his willingness to reach the truth by accepting the death penalty, as he believed that death would free his soul from his mortal body and he would no longer be restricted by desires of his body.

Analysis:

Socrates believed in a cycle of opposites through which he maintained that death comes from life, and life comes from death. But the death he referred to is not one that deprives individuals of life another dimension, as it implies that when a body dies, the soul of the body lives on. This is the reason why he belied that death comes as something that frees human beings from a life that actually restricts them while they are in their bodies.

When Socrates was sentenced to death, he gladly accepted it in the hopes of continuing the immortal life. This would be a life in which he would not be restricted from spending all his time in search of truth. There would be no human needs to satisfy, not even the need to eat, as the soul is independent of all such needs. Socrates considered it "a ridiculous contradiction in men studying to live as nearly as they can" (Phaedo 2, 67e).

Socrates said that this is futile because they were only prolonging their restricted lives. "How inconsistent of them to have been always enemies of the body, and wanting to have the soul alone, and when this is granted to them, to be trembling and repining" (Phaedo 2, 67e). This refers to the way that Socrates saw human beings striving for the truth yet shying away from the opportunity to arrive at it. It is as though human beings are caught up in a paradox due to the fears that their bodies possess when confronted with death. However, due to having a soul, there may be an undying desire, perhaps inherent through many past lifetimes, to achieve truth and justice.

One knows inherently that there is a need to achieve the ultimate justice, and therefore the struggle continues. But in the course of this struggle, one may get hungry or fatigued and succumb to the weakness of the mortal body, yet the soul continues to fight. Only if human beings dissociate themselves as much as possible from desires of the body, they can achieve more knowledge. This kind of partial dissociation from desires of the body is said to push an individual closer to leading a purer life, and this is the reason why Socrates says that the separation of the soul from the body is called purification.

Conclusion: