PHIL 2510: The Phaedo

The Structure of the PHAEDO

"Tending the soul"
- religious commitment to moral excellence
- to learn to live well through examination & reflection
There is a Good
- we are sometimes aware of what it particularly is
- we cannot say what it generally is
Cp. certain situations in mathematics
- we recognize instances of (approximate) equality & inequality
- this seems to imply the recollection (remembrance) of genuine equality & inequality
- we make progress in mathematics when we abstract from individual features of specific cases. Should we expect the same in cases involving moral values?
to summarize thus far:
- our goal: "tending the soul"
- our means: examination & recollection
- our task: to know the Good
BUT: how can we come to know the Good? In fact: how do we know anything? What is knowledge?
- Socrates' autobiography
  - his dissatisfaction with mechanical explanation
  - Socrates' alternative:
    Knowledge is an account examined by reason (i.e., logically), starting with what seems likely, drawing implications, and testing for consistency.
- method of hypothesis
  - start with hypothesis
  - if it is challenged, establish it as an implication of a more general (higher, logically prior) hypothesis
  - revise at most probably mistaken point
    - absurdity implies error & demands revision
    - claims are structured hierarchically (some are more general & fundamental than others)
- since knowledge lies in accounts, accounts are the criteria of what is real and what is not real, not vice versa. Ideas test experience.
What are the obstacles to "tending the soul"?
- chiefly: desires of the body
- soul seeks the good reflectively; thus soul must accustom itself to the rigours of knowing
- philosophy is the practice of dying
Philosophy practices death? Is this reasonable? Well, do we outlive bodily, physical life?
Problem: is soul immortal?
- how to approach this question?
- follow pattern in 4 & 5, above
The Arguments
The Forms
Conclusion

Narrative Outline of the PHAEDO (after Hackforth)

The story is retold by Phaedo, who was there on the morning Socrates was to die, as were Simmias & Cebes. [57a-59c]
Socrates sends his grieving wife Xantippe away, rubs his legs where the shackles have been and remarks that pains come mixed with pleasures in this life. His mention of Aesop reminds Cebes that Evenus claimed to have heard that Socrates was reworking the fables in prison. This is true, Socrates says. He was obeying a dream. He asks Cebes to send his greetings to Evenus & urge him to follow Socrates as soon as possible, but not by taking his own life, which on religious grounds he holds to be dishonorable. [59c-62c]
In response to their expressions of surprise, Socrates proclaims his conviction that death is not a separation from the gods. Death is not the end, and in the world to come the good will fare beter than the wicked. In fact, philosophy itself can be seen as the practice & preparation for dying. [62c-64c]
Socrates explains. Death is the separation of the body from the soul. The philosopher, in the search for understanding (PHRONESIS), pays little attention to physical plasures and learns that the body itself stands in the way of understanding, which cannot be achieved through the senses. The philosopher longs for te purification of the soul from the body which can be hoped for in death. 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 he has sought i this life. The philosopher is not like the lover of the body. The real virtues depend upon understanding, which Socrates compares to a cure or purgative (KATHARMOS.) [64c-69e]
Cebes objects that Socrates' view implies that souls exist after death & retain the understanding they have achieved in this life. Is there any reason to believe this? Socrates appeals in responding to the notion of paired opposites. Whatever comes to be comes to be out of its opposite, in a cycle. Thus as life ends in death, death in turn must give birth to life. This point reminds Cebes of a related theme he has heard Socrates discuss: the theory of Recollection (ANAMNESIS.) Socrates explains for Simmias: our senses remind us of ideas (Forms) we must have had before birth. We encounter, for example, "similar" & "equal" things. But not exactly similar or exactly equal. But the experience of likeness is the occasion for our remembering these forms. The forms cannot be thought of as innate, since we discover (&quo;recall") them on actual occasions. They must be remembered from another life. The forms in effect presuppose the doctrine of reincarnation. [69e-77a]
Simmias remarks that the argument above might establish the pre-eixtence of the soul, but how does it establish life after death? They will miss Socrates the charmer. Socrates turns to Cebes' question: might not the soul simply disperse at death? But the soul is not a composite thing. The soul is like the forms. We may conclude, therefore, that it is imperishable & indestructible. Even the skeleton lasts a very long time after death; we can hardly suppose that the soul is more perishable. However, not all souls will share similar experiences in the next life. Those who have not purified themselves in this life face a contrasting fate to the philosoher's after death. Philosophy prepares the soul for release from the prison of the body,which seduces us into misunderstanding reality. [77a-84b]
A long silence follows. Socrates realizes that Simmias & Cebes are not convinced, but that they are reluctant to pursue this argument on such an occasion. Socrates chides them, and tells them that the swan, another creature associated like Socrates with Apollo, sings at death not in sorow but in joy. His friends must believe him; they should pursue the argument. Simmias replies that he has heard it said that the soul is a "tuning" (HARMONIA) of the body, which implies its dependence upon the body. Cebes adds that supposing the soul does have a cycle of reincarnations, how do we know that that cycle will continue. A man can use up several cloaks in his life, but his last cloak still oulasts him. The company of men around Socrates are dismayed. They fear that the argument they want to believe has been undermined. Socrates comforts them and warns against the despair and distrust of argument that can be overtake those who hoped for easy proofs and then were disappointed by criticisms and challenges. [84c-91c]
Socrates answers Simmias' objection (that soul is a HARMONIA.) This view is incompatible with the theory of recollection. It cannot explain ethical differences among souls (is the evil soul a discordant harmony?) It is incompatible with the fact that soul can control the body. How could it do so if it were only a harmony of the body? [91c-95a]
Cebes' objection requires a longer answer that includes an account of the nature of reasoned explanation. Socrates recounts how he began as a student of natural science, but became disaffected because the natural philosphers (he mentions Anaxagoras by name) never get to the question of why, for what purpose. So Socrates reluctantly turned to what he calls the "second best way" (DEUTEROS PLOUS.) This is the method of hypothesis which approaches a subject not directly, but through accounts (LOGOI) which in turn appeal to, and are subject to revision in the light of, higher even more general accounts, the method continuing until the issue in question has been resolved because it has been deduced from an hypothesis so general and fundamental as to be unchallengable. This is Socrates' strategy in the PHAEDO. Arguments about coming-to-be & perishing are traced to the Forms. Certain forms will not admit either of certain pairs of opposites. The characters of the forms are incompatible with the attribution. Socrates employs this method to establish the immortality of the soul. Soul is always associated with life. Soul excludes death and is imperishable. Simmias is not completely convinced, but Socrates urges him to repeat and rehearse the argument, according to this method of hypothesis. [95a-107b]
Socrates now relates an elaborate "Myth of the Afterlife" [107c-115a] before the dialog concludes with Phaedo's moving account of Socrates' death. [115b-118]

revised September 27, 1996

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