The Phaedo: Socrates In His Final Moments

If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul, and get to know a man, don’t bother analyzing his ways of being silent or of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas. You will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he’s a good man – Fyodor Dostoevsky

In this episode we discuss Plato's Phaedo, one of his most notable works. In this episode, we lay out the four arguments Socrates puts forth before he dies. The first is the Cyclical Argument, then the Theory of Recollection Argument, then the Affinity Argument, and finally the Argument from Form of Life. We also describe, as it is presented in the book, Socrates in his final moments. We assess the strength and weaknesses of these arguments and examine them for additional context and value that could shed more light on the truth. We also address the soul and afterlife generally. This is an introduction to our next episode which re-examines an Eastern Philosophical text, the Dao De Jing. Also importantly, this episode will conclude, for a while, our episodes focused on Plato and Socrates. We will return to them in the future, but for now, we want to take their ideas and examine their evolution and applicability over time.

Always feel free to let us know what you think, or if you have any episode requests. We would love to hear from you! Thank you for listening and we’ll see you next time as we search for truth on the road that never ends!