Accepting Death In Socrates 'Phaedo'

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According to Socrates in the Phaedo, philosophy is the practice of death. He claims that philosophers should openly welcome death and be willing to die. However, by no means does this imply that philosophers should consider suicide. It simply means that philosophers should be excited, rather than frightened, for death. Socrates, himself, is not scared of death because according to him, those who practice philosophy in the right way are training for death. Therefore, they are not resentful when death approaches. For Socrates in particular, life is not worth living, and death is not worth welcoming, unless one practices philosophy by seeking to obtain wisdom and knowledge. Philosophers seek wisdom and knowledge throughout their life, which is only truly obtained if the soul is separate from the body. By pursuing wisdom for a lifetime, philosophers are able to prepare for an illustrious afterlife with the gods. In doing so, they must purify themselves from the body’s immoral desires and passions. By practicing philosophy faithfully, true philosophers are able to welcome death by accepting that the only way to attain wisdom and knowledge is through striving to have the soul as it’s own entity. …show more content…

He makes the assumption that death is the ultimate separation of the body and soul, and the body is the soul’s prison. Philosophers spend their lives trying to reach a state where they are inevitably close to death in order to distance the soul from the body’s pleasures and desires. He believes that true philosophers despise bodily pleasures, such as food, drink, clothes, shoes, and sex, because they connect the body and soul through desire, passion, and reason. The soul functions best when it is separate from the body’s influence and control. He

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