Phaedrus — Plato

PHJEDO

SUGGESTIONS ON THE STUDY OF THE PHy€DO Instead of the ordinary form of Introduction the following suggestions on the study of the Phaedo are submitted. I. Do not study the dialogue first of all to see whether you agree with the arguments or conclusions of Socrates. Try first to hear him out, just as if you were with him in the prison, and to appreciate sympathetically the course and the spirit of his argument about immortality. II. Do not begin by a formal study of the dialogue. Read it through at least once just as you would read a novel, to get the story, and general sense and spirit of the whole. III. Study of the formal arguments for immortality : Read first very thoughtfully the account of the doctrine of ideas, the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul, and the doctrine of reminiscence in the Introduction, page xxvi. If you have other books to read on these subjects, so much the better. Then write out as briefly and clearly as possible the five formal arguments for immortality, as they are given in the text and summaries. Note: The first and fifth arguments seemed to one of the hearers (103) inconsistent. Jowett thinks them really inconsistent. 413

p. 414Note on the argument from reminiscence: How we get pure abstract ideas, such as those found in pure mathematics, has been a standing question in philosophy. Plato held, as we see, that we remember such ideas from a former existence. Some modern philosophers have held that we are bom with these ideas or with natural capacities which always lead us to them. Others have held that all such ideas are gained by experience.

Some hold that the experiences of our ancestors are born in us as instinctive tendencies which give rise to these ideas. The last view has more in common with that of Plato than may at first appear ; for, according to this view, the individual has a kind of pre-existence in his ancestors, and his most abstract ideas are organic memories from that ancestral pre-existence.

The modern theory does not, however, represent the soul as having existed individually before birth and so does not suggest an individual existence after death. IV. Besides working out the formal arguments for immortality, Plato suggests his belief in respect to it by many incidents of the story.

In some cases the connection between the incident and the argument is plain, in other cases, less so. (i.) Consider each of the following incidents to see what, if any, connection it has with Socrates' belief as shown in the dialogue as a whole, {a) The message to Evenus (6i and following); (*) The direction about the care of his sons (115) ; {c) The answer to Crito about his burial (115) ; {d) The answer to Crito's proposal that he postpone his death to the last legal moment (116).

THE STUDY OF THE PHiEDO 415 (2.) Collect a series of quotations from the dialogue which show the state of Socrates* feeling, and consider the connection of this feeling in presence of death, with his professed belief. (3.) More difficult points: {a) Read 89,90, and 91, to where the argument is resumed. Note Socrates* advice against misology or despair of reason.

Read with special care the paragraph beginning, " Yes, Phaedo, he replied,*' etc., in 90. What connection do you find between Socrates* reason why we should not be misologists and his belief as shown in the dialogue as a whole ? {b) Read the paragraph in 91 beginning " Let us then,*' etc. This paragraph appears to be a confession of doubt and of willingness to have his arguments for immortality overthrown. Is this confession real or affected ?

If it is affected, is it consistent with Socrates* character and professions ? If it is real, is it consistent with the rest of the dialogue ? {c) Read from 78 to the end of 83. What is the deepest reason given here for loving good and for not loving evil ?

Note : Taking the dialogue as a whole, it is evident that Plato*s belief in immortality rests upon his conviction that beyond the world which appears to our senses, which is full of change, of illusion, and of evil, there is a world which is eternal and good ; that the soul belongs by its deepest nature to that eternal and good world ; and that by purging the soul from thoughts of this present evil world, and by feeding the soul upon that which is eternal and good, we may escape from this miserable changing existence, into our true estate with God. To know the divine is to embrace it and to assimilate the divine