This course has sparked in me a fresh curiosity for the intellectual life. It has brought me to ponder great questions that have been part of human history and the human condition. Examples of such questions include, “Does the human soul exist beyond our bodies,” “Does God exist,” “What is knowledge,” “What kind of world do we live in?” But the question from this course that I take to be the most important, as it dictates how we approach questions such as those, and is supremely relevant to everyday life, is “How should one live their life?” This question is possibly the most essential to the human race, since how we answer this question determines our mindset when answering the commonly asked question, about how philosophy applies to everyday …show more content…
In the readings from several of Plato pieces, Plato’s and Socrates’ various philosophies of life were outlined. One of their primary principles was Socratic wisdom, where a person is conscious of and humble of their lack of true knowledge. They also argue that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Plato 19). By saying this, Socrates means that one must live an examined life, that is, one must be always pensive about what it means to live and must always be considering great philosophical questions. In the Phaedo, a piece written by Plato about Socrates’ pre-execution conversation, Socrates states that one must be a philosopher in life in order to better prepare for a whole and meaningful afterlife. He claims that the material world has “polluted” the soul, and the best way to mitigate that pollution is to turn your mind inward and worry only about philosophy, and not the body or other material matters (Plato 54). Thus, Socrates’ and Plato’s, views on how one should live their life are based upon assumptions of the nature of the soul, and that it continues on as a separate entity from the body, and is tainted by its time being in union with the …show more content…
He says that the perfect life is one equally balanced midway between a pure philosopher, and a pure ignorant. “The most perfect character is supposed to lie between those extremes” (Hume 185). He goes on to say that a man who indulges in both the life of reason and the life of leisure is bound to be an asset to society, as he can partake on intellectual ventures, while still enjoying material pleasures, and can bring both to those in society. He claims that it is the nature of man to satisfy both realms of life and says, “Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man” (Hume
In the book “Phaedo,” Plato discusses the theory of forms with ideas that concern the morality of the form. There are four philosophers that are expressed which are Phaedo, Cebes, and Simmias regarding the execution of Socrates. Socrates is presented in “Phaedo” on the morning of his execution where he is being killed. He tells his disciples Simmias and Cebes that he is not afraid of dying because a true philosopher should welcome and look forward to death but not suicide. A man should never commit suicide. He says that we are possessions of the Gods and should not harm themselves. He provides the four arguments for his claim that the soul is immortal and that a philosopher spends his whole life preparing for death.
Socrates a classical Greek philosopher and character of Plato’s book Phaedo, defines a philosopher as one who has the greatest desire of acquiring knowledge and does not fear death or the separation of the body from the soul but should welcome it. Even in his last days Socrates was in pursuit of knowledge, he presents theories to strengthen his argument that the soul is immortal. His attempts to argue his point can’t necessarily be considered as convincing evidence to support the existence of an immortal soul.
Another philosophical ideology reflected by Socrates was the importance of the universal truth which helps one be closer to their souls, many principles of ethics and philosophical ideologies that are still used today originate from this concept. He believed the closer to the truth a person gets, the healthier their soul is, the kinder they are and the happier they would be in life. In the words of Socrates, “The soul holds the key to happiness and a good life”. He believed that perfecting the soul would decrease the urge to commit crimes, since they would already have all they need. Socrates called this ‘The care of the soul.’ Most of his philosophies are driven by this belief. For example during Socrates
For Plato, the pursuit of the philosopher should be that which the sage has already attained in their status as a “godlike philosopher”. In Phaedo, Socrates takes length describing the pursuit of philosophy as preparation for death. The account of Socrates’ death gives a portrait of man successfully detached from his body, allowing his soul to continue to its next phase of being. Plato however does not present this as a strict asceticism, but rather accounts that the philosopher should spend his life trying to detach himself from the needs of the body and earthly pleasures. Further, Socrates agrees with Simmias that philosophers must distance themselves from bodily pleasures including food, drink, sex, superfluous physical items, etc. The philosopher in turn exchanges all of these things for wisdom, the only thing of true value which leads to an exalted life among the gods. Their main goal is to transform their values through a greater reality of the forms and an ability to recognize the importance of distinguishing the one from the many—which in turn aligns themselves in a position to be ethically superior to unenlightened human beings with a greater degree of
In the book Plato 's Phaedo, Socrates argues that the soul will continue to exist, and that it will go on to a better place. The argument begins on the day of Socrates execution with the question of whether it is good or bad to die. In other words, he is arguing that the soul is immortal and indestructible. This argument is contrary to Cebes and Simmias beliefs who argue that even the soul is long lasting, it is not immortal and it is destroyed when the body dies. This paper is going to focus on Socrates four arguments for the soul 's immortality. The four arguments are the Opposite argument, the theory of recollection, the affinity argument, and the argument from form of life. As the body is mortal and is subject to physical death, the soul
According to Plato, the body and the soul are separate entities. The soul is capable of existing before life of the body and after death of the body and it is constant, unchanging and non-physical (invisible). The soul resembles what is divine, immortal, and always remaining true to itself. The body, however, resembles what is human, mortal, and destructible. The body is changing and never able to maintain its true identity (Plato, 80b). Due to this radical difference between body and soul, their relationship is can be described as antagonistic. In Phaedo, Plato says that body always hinders the soul from possessing truth and intelligence. Therefore if, by death, the soul can pursue divine and unchanging truth without being distracted by bodily desires, death is the real liberation or purification of soul from the body (Plato, 67c-e). This definition of the soul is embodied in a rational framework. In other words, Plato arrives at his conclusions through deductive reasoning and ideals. He believes that the body contributes to cognition only by the senses, only in which "seeing and hearing are neither precise nor clear" (Plato, 65b). Thus, senses are fallible and all true knowledge comes by way of reason and rationale. The other approach to obtaining knowledge of the soul, challenged by Aristotle in De Anima, holds that there is nothing in the intellect which is not learned from experience. He believes that the world can ...
The main theme behind the "Phaedo" is Socrates' readiness and willingness to die, because of his belief of immortality. Socrates believed that when his body ceased to exist anymore, that his soul would leave and join that of the forms, where he would be eternally. Socrates believed so strongly in this, that not only did he not fear his death, he welcomed it. He believed that only when the soul separated from the body, is a person able to be truly enlightened and gain all knowledge. This "enlightenment" has been Socrates' life long goal of discovering the truth. Even at his hour of death, Socrates showed no hesitation. However, Socrates' friends did not believe so strongly, and took some great convincing by Socrates, to allow his friends to be okay with his death. The two proofs that Socrates used to convince his friends are the "Doctrine of Opposites" and the "simple and composite theory.
Is it simply performing the will of the Gods and Goddesses, living justly and avoiding that which might corrupt the soul? To Socrates, though he recognizes that each individual can make choices in how they live their life, these individuals will be judged as the dead at Tartarus, their actions in life weighed out in full, punished or rewarded as seen fit. Further, Socrates feels that by ignoring the pleasures of the body, and learned more the pleasures of the mind, should be glad of his own soul. (Phaedo, 113d-114d) Of course, the punishments doled out for those deemed ‘incurable’ are rather terrifying to consider, especially taking into account that Socrates argues that our soul is immortal. That, he feels, is even further grounds to celebrate a man’s life if he lived well. I feel that this could, in some way, be Socrates reassuring not just Simmias, Cebes, Phaedo, and the others there, but he’s reassuring himself that he is justified in his actions as a philosopher. After all, Socrates is on being put to death for impiety, and the corruption of the youth of Athens. Surely, for a man so concerned with philosophy and his Gods, these crimes must have weighed on his mind in some fashion, though he “appeared happy both in manner and words as he died nobly without fear.” (Phaedo, 58e) Socrates, also, is a man who respects the laws of his country, not taking the opportunity to escape his
According to Plato’s philosophy in order for human beings to have a healthy “soul,” our view of the world should not be distorted by fears, insecurities, irrational anxieties, or overpowering desires. He also explains that our judgment should not be blinded by greed or self-interest. Having a healthy “soul” means having a clear mind and seeing things for what they actually are; this “soul” is the core of our personality. A person with a healthy ”soul” will live a virtuous life by making ethical choices and controlling his or her desires.
Socrates discusses that people should not fear death because we do not know the qualities of death. Even though we do not know what death is, he makes some suggestions for the possibilities after death. He suggests that maybe death is just an endless sleep without dreaming, it is where we can finally come to peace with ourselves. He also suggest that maybe in the afterlife he will be able to meet heroic people in the past, where he can share his experience and question people to see whether they are wise. Even in death Socrates is still going to practice philosophy even if the place is bad. Even if he did not live a just life that he thought he did, he can examine what he did wrong and fix the problems in the after life. I agree with Socrates
''The best way of approaching philosophy is to ask a few philosophical questions: How was the world created? Is there any will or meaning behind what happens? Is there a life after death? How can we answer these questions? And most important, how ought we to live?'' (Gaarder, Jostein 15)
Phaedo was set in a prison. While in prison, Socrates contemplated whether or not there is an afterlife and whether or not the soul can survive death. He explains that we discuss the soul because it applies to all humans; it’s more personal, closer to us than the nature of being. Socrates adds that he doesn’t fear death because it means fearing your soul. You shouldn’t fear the unknown, but embrace it. Furthermore, he comes to the conclusion that the soul is immortal based on the following 3 arguments.
“…Those who are about their souls and do not devote themselves to the body disassociate themselves firmly from these others and refuse to accompany them on their haphazard journey…” (Phaedo, 82d). Socrates is talking about how others waste their time focusing on the body when the soul should be the focus. He refuses to go and do what everyone else is doing because God has commanded him on his journey of philosophy. These people do not devote themselves to the correct way of life. You need to gather knowledge and wisdom through questioning with the Socratic Method. Wisdom and knowledge is knowing you are ignorant and doing something about it by getting more in touch with the non-physical world. Asking others questions and seeking a wise person to ask questions is how you should attain wisdom. He says you should also gather knowledge from yourself and look inside yourself for answers and cultivate the soul through virtue. Philosophy is also essential to human life. Living your life through philosophy and using it as a guide to ask questions is the way to live
Socrates was a wise man who realized that life was not something that could be easily understood. He knew that questioning life would lead to a stronger conception of life and reality. When he stated that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Plato 45), he truly meant that without questioning life, one would not be truly living. Actions would have no understanding of being right or wrong. For Socrates, a man who believed that life should be based on what was right, there would be no greater wrongdoing.
He wrote many dialogues, and one of them includes his famous dialogue called “Allegory of the Cave.” This dialogue explained how we were born into being very naïve people about our surroundings and taking things for granted, but eventually with the right education we grow to be philosophers that know the Form of Good. Society closes our eyes and whispers things to us in our ears and we believe it, in order to break free we need to educate ourselves into being more knowledgeable about our surroundings. We need to analyze even the smallest things, nothing is to be taken for granted because everything is more complex than what it seems (Plato, p. 26). Plato also states in his idea of self, the soul, that the soul is composed of three parts, our desires, the conscious awareness of reason and the spirited part which gets angry at injustice (Plato, p.40). His allegory and this idea about the parts of the soul connect with each other and might as well lead us to understanding what his idea truly means. Like the first argument, we could say that because our souls is what makes us alive, we are aware of the life we live, therefore we become philosophers only when we do not forget where we came from. This though, sounds contradicting to itself if we take the second argument in hand. If our soul is our life and our body is what carries it, than our ability to become philosophers depends solely on our ability to remove our soul from the body in