Dialogue Phaedo Death Of Socrates By Phaedo

To Echecrates Essay, Research Paper

The dialogue Phaedo is a narration of the death of Socrates by Phaedo to Echecrates. One of the themes in the dialogue Phaedo is Socrates perception of death. He and those who come to visit him on the day of his execution discuss this idea of his. Socrates believes that every philosopher awaits death because it is coupled with being a philosopher. This idea of wanting to die seems to contradict his behavior during the trial. It is understandable that during his trial Socrates was trying to prove himself innocent of the charges brought against him, but he did not portray the idea that this being the goal of every philosopher. In my opinion, this was Socrates way of accepting his fate.

The dialogue also displays Socrates philosophical character. One of his interesting ideas is his conception of pain and pleasure. His thought on pain and pleasure makes a lot of sense, in my opinion. I think he uses of very good example of this belief, that is life (particularly his). To Socrates his pain was probably life itself, while his pleasure was the thought of meeting the gods and being free.

In reading the dialogue, it was hard to understand why Socrates was charged with being agnostic towards the Athenian gods when that was one thing he seemed to live his life by, “… I shall come to the gods who are very good masters.” (page 98)