“Death is not the worst thing that could happen to man” (doing western philosophy is)
Now I am dealing with the worst thing that could ever happen to man, and thanks to Plato, by practicing death, i don’t fear death anymore.
Plato is one of the most representative philosopher throughout western philosophy and even western world. He was the disciple of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. Plato is also the inventor of the dialectic forms in philosophy, his books are known for the dialectic wrting style. Plato, with his pure reason thinking, discovered the grand propositions such as the forming of the universe etc. His thoughts deeply influenced later philosophers on similar topics. Plato is also the namesake of Platonic love which an idea that Plato himself never brought up.
Accroding to Plato, there is death. In his work Phaedo he wrote
“And that freedom and separation of the soul from the body is called death? That is altogether so.”
By the voice of Socrates, Plato conveys his view on death. Plato and Socrates define death as the ultimate separation of the soul and body. They regard the body as a prison for the soul and view death as the freedom for the soul. However, it is worth mentioning that all Plato wrote in Phaedo were the conversations between teacher Socrates and others. We cannot prove whether Plato really integrated his interpretation of Socrates’ words (that is, Plato’s view of death himself) into this article.
Plato thinks death can be practiced, and philosophy is the way of practicing it. Plato states in his Phaedo:
“It [the soul] reasons best when it is being troubled neither by hearing nor by sight nor by pain, nor by a certain sort of pleasure either, but when it as much as possible comes to be alone by itself, ignoring the body, and, as far as it can, doesn’t associate or have contact with the body when reaching out to what is real.”
And for philosophy, given the definition of love of wisdom, philosophers are the ones who pursue wisdom. Therefore, philosophy and death are closely linked together, and death has become a problem that philosophers of later generations have been constantly discussing. Of course, Plato’s explanation has left many mysteries about death for posterity, such as the famous mind-body problem, but none of these are now Plato’s business.
“according to us it is those who really love wisdom who are always particularly eager – or rather, who alone are always eager – to release it [the soul], and philosophers’ practice is just that, release and parting of soul from body.”
From his point of view, philosophical thinking is a practice of death, in other words, it prepares us for death. On the path of speculation, death is the end, the freest and most efficient state of the soul, and the state that all philosophers should aspire to. By extension of his own idea, why didn’t Plato just commit suicide? We don’t seem be able to answer this question, but i guess for a world that so far has no immoral livings, death for plato, or human, should not be in a hurry. Despite of a philosopher, Plato is also a man, and man have desires. As a human being, there is no need to be eager to pursue the death, the untimate freedom of one’s soul.
“Haven’t you realized that our soul is immortal and never destroyed?”He looked at me with wonder and said: “No, by god, I haven’t. Are you really in a position to assert that?”
The above excerpt is from Pheado. Plato gives us an explanation of the afterlife from the point of view of the soul. Plato believed the soul would leave the body and move to another body after death, and the soul was immortal. For any body, only the soul can keep it alive and gives it a meaning. A body with out a soul is a car with out the driver. (This also matches up with decartes’ ghost in the machine) In Pheado he wrote:
What is it that, when present in a body, makes it living? — A soul.
As historical evidence have shown, Plato lived until the around the age of 80. But the detailof his death qs quite arguable. About how the famous philosopher died, there are several versions. According to Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Plato died at the age of 81 on the same day he was born. The Suda, a large 10th-century encyclopedia about ancient Mediterranean area, indicates the philosopher lived to 82 years. A variety of sources have given accounts of his death. One story, based on a mutilated manuscript, suggests Plato died in his bed, while a young girl played the flute to him. Another tradition suggests Plato died at a wedding feast. The account is based on Diogenes Laërtius’s reference to an account by Hermippus, a third-century Alexandrian.
No matter how Plato died, it is sure that his soul is finally free. At this very moment, his soul may be wandering, looking for the next body to attach itself to. Or has it found the body? Maybe it’s you in front of the screen?
Bibliography
Plató, & Rowe, C. J. (1993). Phaedo. Cambridge University Press.
Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, June 23). Plato. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato.
Kraut, R. (2017, August 1). Plato. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/#DoePlaChaHisMinAboFor.
UKEssays. (November 2018). Plato’s Practice Of Death. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/philosophy/platos-practice-of-death-philosophy-essay.php?vref=1
Socrates_Death1. (n.d.). https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/intro_text/Chapter%202%20GREEKS/Socrates_deathI.htm.
Austin, Emily, “Fear and Death in Plato” (2009). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 27. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/27
SEFEROĞLU, Tonguç. (2019). The Practice of True Philosophers in Plato’s Phaedo. Dört Öge, 15, 15-36. http://dergipark.gov.tr/dortoge.