PHI 201 Philosophy of Human Nature
Sample Discussion Preparation Report
Plato's Phaedo, 57a-70b
Reading Summary
The first part of Plato's Phaedo dramatically sets up the question
that the dialogue will consider: the nature and immortality of the soul.
Socrates has been in prison awaiting execution, and when the day arrives,
his friends gather to converse with him. Discussion naturally turns
to Socrates' oddly positive attitude about his impending death. Socrates
explains that the wise person will not fear death, but will welcome it
as a release from the distractions and deceptions of the body. Socrates
states in a key passage that he wants to explain his view that "a man who
has truly spent his life in philosophy is probably right to be of good
cheer in the face of death and to be very hopeful that after death he will
attain the greatest blessings yonder" (63e). His argument begins
with the claim that death is nothing more than the separation of soul and
body (64c). Since the true philosopher is the one who seeks wisdom,
and since the body impedes that search, release from the body is a good
thing (64e-67d). Despite this optimistic view, Socrates does argue,
on religious grounds, that we should not hasten death by suicide, for we
belong to the gods (61c-62c).
Throughout the first part of the dialogue Plato provides several dramatic
hints to the reader to think about Pythagorean ideas of the immortality
of the soul and the idea that the soul must be purified from bodily taint
in this life. The reading selection ends with one of Socrates' interlocutors,
Cebes, pointing out that Socrates' attitude toward death is appropriate
only if the soul survives death (69e-70b). This sets up the problem
that the remainder of the dialogue addresses.
Significant Problems
Socrates' definition of death as the separation of soul from body (64c)
seems to presume the existence of the soul. Perhaps Socrates only
means that a living thing is a body that is active, and that by soul we
mean only whatever it is that makes the body alive (whether it is a thing
or not). This point should be clarified in what we read later.
Socrates' claim that real knowledge cannot come from the senses discounts
what we ordinarily count as knowledge. Most such knowledge, such
as knowledge of colors, physical objects, other people, does come from
our use of the bodily senses. But Socrates, like the Pythagoreans,
thinks that real knowledge is apprehension of concepts like numbers.
His own examples are the "ideal realities" of the Just, the Beautiful,
and the Good (65d-e), which are the conceptual standards we use to identify
just things, beautiful things, and good things in our experience.
Critical Comment
At this point Socrates really has only outlined his position. But
it is clear that his notion of human nature includes the claim that human
beings are composed of souls and bodies, that souls somehow survive death,
and that bodies are in important ways inferior to souls. The question
raised by Cebes at the end of the passage suggests that some justification
for these views is necessary if Socrates' positive attitude is to be anything
more than "good hope." It is also worth noting that Socrates' view
is explicitly opposed to the common view of humans, especially his claim
that real happiness involves ignoring bodily desires and pleasures.
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