Phaedo

The philosophical debate begins as Socrates states that a true philosopher "has reason to be of good cheer when he is about to die", although suicide is not acceptable. Cebes is confused by what seems to be a contradiction because for those who would consider death a blessing, cannot take their own lives, but must wait for their lives to be taken from them. Socrates explains that the "gods are our guardians, and that we are a possession of theirs", and so have no right to harm ourselves. True philosophers spend their entire lives preparing for death and dying, so it would be inappropriate if they were to be sad when the moment of death finally arrived. "I am afraid that other people do not realize that the one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death."

While the body desires pleasures of the flesh, the soul desires wisdom. Truth cannot be perceived by senses. So if the search for final and absolute truth is accompanied by one's body, the person is bound to be deceived. "For whenever it attempts to examine anything with the body, it is clearly deceived by it." A philosopher must avoid the lusts and desires that trouble the soul when it is imprisoned within the body. He knows not to place the highest value on the pleasures of the body, such as eating and drinking. Each pleasure and pain is like a nail that pins the soul to the body, making it less able to escape. A philosopher will break free of these nails by listening only to reason and preparing for a contented life after death. Socrates continues his argument by stating that justice, beauty, and goodness in their final or absolute form have never been perceived by the eyes, ears, or any other bodily sense. So as long as we are in the body and the soul is mixed with this evil, our desire for truth will never be satisfied.

The philosopher longs for the purification of the soul from the body which can be hoped for in death. "If we would have pure knowledge of anything we must be quit of the body, and the soul in herself of herself must behold all things in themselves." That is why Socrates is not complaining at his impending death. He has spent his life preparing for it, in the hope that in the next world he will attain the wisdom and absolute truth he has sought in this life. Processes of thought are at its best when the mind is no longer troubled by distractions such as sights, pains, or pleasures. His primary concern is for the soul. Because the body interferes with the welfare of the soul, he would like to get rid of the body and the only way of doing that is by dieing. As Socrates explains it, death is nothing more than the separation of the soul from the body. "Dead is the attainment of this separation when the soul exists in herself, and is parted from the body and the body is parted from the soul". People would exchange pleasures for pleasures and pains for pains. Socrates would exchange all these things for wisdom, the only thing of true value. This pursuit of wisdom will cleanse the philosopher of all the impurities of bodily life and its infatuations, preparing him for an exalted afterlife among the gods.

When Plato is discussing the soul, I receive the image of the soul being imprisoned by the body. Thus, death is a kind of liberation from this prison. However if the gods are such good masters, why have they imprisoned us within these imperfect bodies, torturing and restricting the freedom of our souls in the first place? In addition, Socrates advocates learning with only the mind, which implies that you must learn without the body or senses. Does Plato truly mean that we can and should learn without the senses? It would be very difficult to acquire skills vital to knowledge if we could make no use of our senses.

Plato then goes on to speak about the sensibles and the form of properties. Plato is trying to show that the sensibles are not the same things as the Forms. An example of the sensibles would be things in the world like horses, men, books, and mountains. They are what we