Plato's Pheobe
Phaedo: Plato Creative Writing Assignment Phaedo is a dialogue written by Plato, in which Socrates, a Philosopher, is in prison and soon will receive the death sentence. Two hours before his death sentence, Socrates is attempting to comfort his friends, in which he explains his philosophical standpoint on death. Socrates, being a philosopher of the time is not threatened by death, and in fact looks forward to death. To him, death is simply the separation of the body and the soul, and to his philosophical views the body is nothing but a burden to the soul, which stands in the way of a man to obtain pure knowledge. Once the soul lets go of the body, he believes that one can acquire pure truth, and knowledge. Socrates argues that the physical bodies, along with the physical senses of humans are nothing but distractions, which hinder ones ability to understand pure truth. He believes that sight, hearing, and the other senses of the body have no truth to them, they are merely a deception, and should not be used beyond what is necessary. To Socrates, the body attracts lust, love, greed, violence, etc., which does not allow one to think. Socrates believes that when the body is infested with these traits, the minds perception on what truth is, and what clear knowledge is in fact a misconception, and he believes that real truth can only be obtained if the physical the body, and its senses are let go. Once these distracting elements are eliminated, one see’s clearness to the path of truth and knowledge, and this is why I agree with Socrates argument. Socrates begins to prove his points on death by declaring that a philosopher is only concerned with the soul, and not with the body. Where as the rest of the world is focused on achieving bodily pleasures, philosophers don’t see truth in these physical attributes. I agree with the point Socrates begins to make, because he proves how physical attributes of the body shy away from truth. Sight and hearing have no truth to