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Overview
Phaedo, also known to ancient readers as On The Soul, is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the Republic and the Symposium. The philosophical subject of the dialogue is the immortality of the soul. It is set in the last hours prior to 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. Socrates has been imprisoned and sentenced to death by an Athenian jury for not believing in the gods of the state (though some scholars think it was more for his support of "philosopher kings" as opposed to democracy)[2] and for corrupting the youth of the city.
By engaging in dialectic with a group of Socrates's friends, including the two Thebans, Cebes, and Simmias, Socrates explores various arguments for the soul's immortality in order to show that there is an afterlife in which the soul will dwell following death and, for couples and good people, be more at one with "every loving thing" and be more powerful than the Greek gods. Phaedo tells the story that following the discussion, he and the others were there to witness the death of Socrates.
The Phaedo was first translated into Latin from Greek by Apuleius but no copy survived, so Henry Aristippus produced a new translation in 1160.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781774419885 |
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Publisher: | Binker North |
Publication date: | 07/15/2023 |
Pages: | 110 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.23(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Preface | ix | |
List of Abbreviations | x | |
Introduction | ||
I | The purpose of the dialogue and its position in the Platonic writings | 3 |
II | Stylometric arguments. The transcendent forms | 8 |
III | The nature of the soul | 11 |
IV | The characters | 12 |
V | The arguments for the immortality of the soul | 16 |
VI | Arguments for immortality in other dialogues | 19 |
Translation and Commentary | ||
I | 57A-59C: Introductory conversation | 27 |
II | 59C-62C: Socrates as poet. The wickedness of suicide | 32 |
III | 62C-64C: The philosopher's readiness to die | 39 |
IV | 64C-67B: The philosopher's detachment from the body | 44 |
V | 67B-69E: Moral virtue, genuine and spurious | 52 |
VI | 69E-72D: The first argument for immortality. The cycle of opposites | 58 |
VII | 72E-77A: A complementary argument. The theory of recollection | 66 |
VIII | 77A-78B: Combined results of the two preceding arguments. Socrates as charmer | 78 |
IX | 78B-80C: Third argument. The kinship of souls and forms | 81 |
X | 80C-82D: The after-life of unpurified souls | 87 |
XI | 82D-85B: Socrates describes the philosopher's progress and declares his swan-song to be a song of joy | 92 |
XII | 85B-88B: Simmias and Cebes explain their doubts | 97 |
XIII | 88C-91C: Interlude. A warning against 'misology' | 105 |
XIV | 91C-95A: Refutation of Simmias's theory of soul | 112 |
XV | 95A-99D: Socrates as student of natural science | 121 |
XVI | 99D-102A: The new method of hypothesis | 133 |
XVII | 102A-105B: The exclusion of opposites | 147 |
XVIII | 105B-107B: The argument concluded. Soul is both deathless and indestructible | 158 |
XIX | 107C-110B: Myth of the after-life | 167 |
XX | 110B-112E: The splendour of the true earth. The rivers of the underworld | 176 |
XXI | 112E-115A: The myth concluded. Its truth and value | 182 |
XXII | 115B-118: The last scene | 187 |
Additional Notes | 191 | |
The Criticisms of Strato | 195 | |
Index of Names | 199 |