Phaedo

The Phaedo is a famous dialogue written by the ancient philosopher Plato. It tells the story of a conversation that happened just before the death of Socrates, one of the most important thinkers in history.

In this dialogue, Socrates talks with his friends about big questions like whether the soul lives on after we die.

Socrates has a long discussion with two friends named Simmias and Cebes. Together, they look at reasons why the soul might live forever.

The Phaedo is very important because it shows us how ancient people thought about life’s big mysteries.

Background

The story of Phaedo happens in 399 BCE, inside a prison in Athens. It is the last few hours before Socrates passes away. The story is told by Phaedo of Elis to Echecrates, a thinker who loves the ideas of the Pythagoreans.

Characters

The people in the main story include:

• Socrates of Alopece: an older thinker who has been told he must pass away by the people of Athens.
• Simmias and Cebes of Thebes: friends of Socrates who studied with a Pythagorean thinker named Philolaus of Croton.
• Crito of Alopece: a close friend of Socrates.

Other people present include Xanthippe, Socrates’ wife, and their three sons, along with several other followers of Socrates.

Historical context

Phaedo is the fourth and last of Plato’s stories about Socrates’ final days, after Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito. In these stories, Socrates is in prison and has been told he must pass away.

Many people in the story are linked to Pythagoreanism, a set of beliefs that taught that the soul lives forever. Simmias and Cebes studied with Philolaus, a well-known Pythagorean thinker. The topics they talk about come from Pythagorean ideas. Plato likely learned from these ideas through his friendship with Archytas of Tarentum, a thinker from Magna Graecia.

Style, dating, and authorship

The Phaedo is one of Plato’s middle-period dialogues, along with the Republic and the Symposium.

Summary

The story is told by one of Socrates’ students, Phaedo, who was with Socrates when he passed away. Phaedo shares this story with another friend named Echecrates, who was a Pythagorean philosopher.

Socrates talked about how pleasure and pain often follow each other. He mentioned that he had been writing poems while in prison, following a dream that told him to “make and cultivate music.” Socrates discussed death with his friends, saying that the body can be a problem for the soul because it distracts us from learning and truth. He believed that when we die, our soul becomes free from these distractions and can finally understand things clearly.

Socrates shared several ideas about the soul. He explained that living things come from dead things, suggesting that our souls exist even after we die. He also talked about how we can remember things we didn’t seem to know before, which he believed showed that our souls existed before we were born. Finally, Socrates said that the soul is like an invisible, eternal part of us, while the body is visible and will eventually die. He believed that good and wise people would have a peaceful time after death, while those who only cared about their bodies might face difficulties.

Legacy

Plato's Phaedo was very popular in ancient times. Many philosophers wrote about it, including Harpocration of Argos, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, and Proclus.

Later, a writer named Saint Gregory of Nyssa used Phaedo in his book about the soul and life after death. He wrote this book for his sister Saint Macrina the Younger.

Two important old explanations of Phaedo still exist today. They were written by Olympiodorus from Alexandria and Damascius from Athens.

The book was first turned into Latin by Apuleius, but that copy was lost. In the year 1160, Henry Aristippus made a new Latin version.

Phaedo is now seen as a very important book. It helped shape many ideas that have influenced Western thinking for thousands of years. These ideas include the difference between the soul and the body, and between what is real and what seems real.

Texts and translations

Original texts

You can find the original Greek text of the Phaedo at Perseus. There are also books that include the original Greek text, like Plato: Opera, volume I, and Plato: Phaedo.

Original texts with translation

Some books show the original Greek text along with a translation in English. For example, Plato: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus by Harold N. Fowler and another version by Chris Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy both include the Greek text and an English translation.

Translations

There are many English translations of the Phaedo available. One popular version is The Last Days of Socrates, translated by Hugh Tredennick in 1954. Other well-known translations include works by G. M. A. Grube and David Sedley with Alex Long.