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Overview: Phaedo is not so much a dialogue, but a retelling of the last day of Socrates’ life, as narrated by the principal character, Phaedo, to a group of friends in the Greek city of Phlius. Phaedo mentions by name several friends of Socrates who were present for his final hours. However, he makes a point that Plato was not present because he was taken ill that day. It seems worth considering whether Plato is perhaps trying to dissociate himself from what he makes Socrates say in this dialogue. First, Phaedo explains why it took more than a month for the death sentence to be carried out, relating the legend of Theseus and the monster Minotaur, which was relevant to the reason for the delay.

Phaedo follows with Socrates’ theory of how opposites seem to follow one another. For an example, Socrates cited the feeling of pleasure that followed the removal of the chains, which had caused so much pain in the legs.

Phaedo relates how Socrates suggested that the sophist Evenus should follow him soon (presumably in death). Socrates, Phaedo notes, had explained to him how a philosopher truly prepares for death all his life, so he should not be afraid of dying when his time comes. At death, according to Socrates, the body which is mortal, disintegrates, but the soul, which is immortal, lives on forever. Phaedo says that Socrates explained the belief that after death the soul is born again in a new being. Furthermore, if a person has led a virtuous life, then the soul may reside in Hades forever or be reborn in another person. If the life led was not virtuous, then the soul will be born again as an animal or as some lower form of life, depending on how lacking in virtue the life was.

Phaedo then discusses Socrates’ views on recollection and learning, which maintain that learning is only recollection of past memories, exemplified in this case by a lover seeing a garment belonging to his loved one. This object brings on a recollection of the loved one, even though that person is not physically present.

Then, Phaedo notes that Socrates talked about Forms. As an example, Socrates asserted that Beautiful is a Form and notes that the various features that comprise the Beautiful are only attributes of that Form.

Similar, he maintained, is the concept of odd and even numbers: Number 3 is an odd number, but 3 is only an attribute of Oddness.

Finally, according to Phaedo, just before his death, Socrates made a point of asking Crito to sacrifice a cock to Asclepius (The God of Healing). This sacrifice, Phaedo infers, suggests that death is actually a cure for the ills of Socrates’ life. This final request is based on the practice of the sacrifice of a cock by people who slept in the temple of Asclepius while seeking a cure for their illness.

This dialogue, as narrated by Phaedo to Echecrates, describes the conversation among a group of Socrates’ friends on his final day of life.

Phaedo, on his way to the city of Elis, stops at the city of Phlius where he is met by Echecrates. Echecrates asks him whether he was present when Socrates swallowed poison, and if he was there, what Socrates’ final words were? Phaedo assures him that he was with Socrates on that final day along with Socrates’ wife, Xanthippe, their baby, and several friends who he names. He reports that Plato was not there, as he had taken ill that day. Echecrates says that everyone in Phlius wondered why the death sentence was only carried out so long after the trial ended. Phaedo explains that this execution day was chosen by chance and, as explanation he relates the story of the King of Crete, Minos, who had defeated the Athenians in a battle. Each year, as tribute, the Athenians were obligated to send seven youths and seven maidens to be sacrificed to the monster Minotaur who dwelled in the labyrinth at Crete. One year, Theseus who was one of those sent to be sacrificed succeeded in slaying Minotaur. To commemorate this triumph, the Athenians vowed to send the ship every year on which Theseus had sailed, on a pilgrimage to the island of Delos. The ship was crowned with garlands just the day before Socrates’ trial ended. Once the ship was crowned for its voyage, Athens had to be kept pure. Because of this restriction, no one could be put to death until the ship returned home.

Echecrates then asks for more details about Socrates’ confinement. Phaedo says that initially all visitors were asked to wait outside until the guards removed the chains from Socrates’ legs. The visitors then were led to his cell. Very soon, Xanthippe, Socrates’ wife, began to cry and Socrates asked Crito to arrange for someone to take her and the baby home, which was done.

Then Socrates put his feet on the bed and gently rubbed them, saying how good it felt to be free of his chains. He wondered, Phaedo relates, about what men call pleasure, noting that it is interesting that opposite always follow each other, such as pleasure follows pain. Socrates contended that man cannot have both pain and pleasure at the same time, but if he pursues one, then the opposite soon follows. He wondered whether Aesop, the writer of fables, had noted this constraint. If Aesop had, Socrates reasoned, he would surely have written a fable about it. The Gods, Socrates averred, could not reconcile these two opposite reactions, and therefore they joined them together. Thus, according to Socrates, Phaedo reports, that when man has either pain or pleasure, the other soon follows. That is what was happening to him. The chains had caused pain in his legs and now pleasure seemed to be following their removal.

At this point, Phaedo reports, Cebes intervened, saying that Evenus, the sophist and teacher, had requested that he ask Socrates what induced him to write poetry after he was confined to prison, as Socrates had never done this type of writing before. While in prison, Socrates had put Aesop’s fables into verse and had also composed a hymn to Apollo. Socrates answered Cebes, saying that he should tell Evenus that he did not do it to rival Evenus, as that would not be easy to accomplish. Instead, he had tried to find the meaning of the recurring dreams he was having. The dreams were concerned with which of the arts he should practice, so he had written poetry to satisfy his curiosity. The dreams told Socrates that he should practice and cultivate the arts. In the past, he had thought that to practice the arts meant practicing the art of philosophy. Following his trial and the delay in executing the sentence, he thought that the dream might mean practicing the popular arts such as poetry. Phaedo relates that Socrates continued: “Tell this to Evenus, wish him well and tell him to follow me soon.” Here Simmias interrupted, questioning this advice, and saying that he had met Evenus often and that he was not likely to willingly follow Socrates soon. Socrates asked: “Why this should be so, is Evenus not a philosopher?” According to Socrates, Phaedo explains: “A philosopher is never afraid to die.” Simmias agreed that Evenus might agree to follow Socrates in death, but he would not take his own life. Socrates then told Simmias that men practicing philosophy are never afraid to die and are hopeful that they will attain greater blessings yonder. Hence, if this belief held true, after being eager all their lives for death, to resent death when it does come would be strange indeed. But, Socrates advised, a man should not commit suicide unless it is absolutely necessary. Then, all of the discussants asked whether there is such a thing as death. They all agreed that death is the separation of the soul from the body. Phaedo then relates that they discussed whether a philosopher should concern himself with the pleasures of the body, such as food, drink, sex, and fancy clothes, along with bodily ornaments. They agreed that a philosopher must despise all of these pleasures and instead strive to separate body from soul. They all were in accord that it is the body and its desires that cause so many of mankind’s problems such as war, civil discord, and immoderate desire for the acquisition of wealth. Ultimately, it is the body that prevents men from seeing the truth.

To have pure knowledge, the group concurred, men must escape from the body and see everything with their souls. However, only when dead can men attain this viewpoint. Hence, Phaedo concludes that it is only he who practices philosophy in the correct manner who most wants to free the soul from the body. Thus a philosopher is never afraid of dying. Phaedo notes that Cebes interjected that Socrates’ idea of the soul separating from the body might be true, but he thought that many people believe that when a person dies his soul also disintegrates. Socrates agreed to discuss this point. Socrates asked whether, when a person dies his soul exists in the underworld or not? The conventional theory is that the souls arriving in the underworld are from the dead, and if the souls arrive, they must, therefore, exist. Then the living must come from the dead, for, if this were not the case, how could it be that they can be born again. Socrates went on to several more examples. Hence the living Socrates posited, are generated from the dead through birth, and the dead are generated from the living by dying. Thus the cycle of life is perpetuated.

Socrates then talked about recollection and experience. Recollections can come from similar or dissimilar events. Learning, Socrates said, is the same as recollection. He presented an example: when men are questioned in the right manner they always give the right answers, which they could not do if they did not have the correct knowledge inside of them. Socrates then went on to explain his point. They all agreed that if someone recollects anything, he must have known it before. So this knowledge is recollection. He further explained this viewpoint by pointing out that, if, a lover sees a piece of clothing that belonged to his beloved, the image of the beloved comes to mind just as if the lover were seeing that person instead of the item of clothing. If a man sees a picture of a horse, Socrates continued, he may recollect the man who has ridden that horse. Hence, as those in the group had said earlier, recollection can be caused by things that may be similar or dissimilar to the event. They agreed that these recollections derive from seeing, or from hearing, or from another of the perception senses, with all of these senses being similar. Given the notion that people begin to see or perceive immediately after birth, it stands to reason that the knowledge of those perceptions must have been acquired before birth. Thus, if they retain this knowledge it has not been forgotten. Phaedo says that Socrates claimed that a person acquired the relevant knowledge before being born, but then loses it at birth. By using the senses people reacquired this knowledge, so the argument went. Learning is thus the reacquisition of this knowledge, which is actually recollection. Hence souls would have also acquired knowledge before birth and, therefore, the soul must have existed apart from the body before birth. Socrates explained that when the soul and the body are together, nature orders the soul to rule and be the master, while the body is to be the subject to be ruled. This natural aspect, Socrates inferred, leads to the conclusion that the soul has multiple desires and is deathless, while the body is human and mortal. Thus, when a person dies, the body eventually disintegrates, and the soul goes on to the underworld – Hades. That soul will be reborn as an animal or another person, depending on the life led previously. If life were lived badly, the soul will be reborn as an animal, but, if the life was lived well the soul will then be reborn as a human.

Socrates, Phaedo relates, then told everyone that when he was young, he was keen on natural science. Socrates claimed that he knew the causes of each thing, when it came to be and when it perished. He had wondered if the brain provided the senses of hearing, sight and smell, from which people get memories and opinions that then become knowledge. He soon realized, however, that he had no natural aptitude for these questions and so gave up this line of reasoning. Then, one day, when he was reading a book by Anaxagoras, he came to understand that it was the mind that dictates, which is the cause of everything. His hopes were dashed, however, when he found that man made no use of the mind and gave it no role in management of the body.

Socrates then asked questions, such as, whether there is anything more beautiful than Beautiful itself? He answered his own question with the observation that something is beautiful for no other reason then that it shares in that concept of the Form of Beautiful. So, if someone says that something is beautiful because of a certain shape or color, Socrates said that he agreed with all that reasoning and relied on the objects relationship to the Form of Beautiful. Beautiful is a Form, Socrates asserted, and we are just describing attributes when we talk of a beautiful object. Likewise, he pointed out, Bigness and Smallness are Forms and what makes things bigger or smaller are attributes. When one thing is divided in half it becomes two. So what matters are the Forms of Oneness and Twoness. Here, Socrates established the theory of Forms, such as Beautiful, Small, Big, et al. Thus, he concluded, when I say that Simmias is taller than Socrates this statement does not assert the truth or falsity of the matter. It is not in Simmias’ nature to be taller, but it is so because of the attribute Tallness that he happens to have. At the same time, Simmias is shorter than Phaedo. So Simmias is both taller and shorter. Then Socrates gave another such example where they all agreed that there is hot and cold. Then Socrates asked if these attributes were the same as fire and snow. All those assembled disagreed with this comparison. So hot is different from fire and snow is different from cold. Socrates gave the example that if fire and cold approach each other, they both either have to retreat or both will be destroyed. Such an outcome is true of many other opposites as well. Hence, Socrates asserted that only a Form deserves its characteristic name. Some thing else that is not the Form, but has the characteristics of the Form, does not deserve its characteristic name. Another example that Socrates alluded to was odd and even numbers. Odd and Even are Forms. Number 3 is odd. So it can be called by its Form. Hence, 3 has the nature of Odd.

Socrates then asked if it is the soul that makes the body alive? Everyone agreed that this is always so. Furthermore, the opposite of life is death, but the soul can never consent to the opposite of what its being is. So if soul does not admit death, then it is deathless, which proves that the soul is immortal. Phaedo reports that Socrates concluded that when a man dies, the mortal part of him, that is the body, dies. While the soul, which is deathless, goes away safe and indestructible, and will dwell in the underworld. People who have lead a good life will have their souls live forever in the underworld. However, a person who has lived a less than a virtuous life will be punished according to the degree of his misdeeds and he will be reborn in a lower life form.

At this point they all agreed that there was nothing more to discuss. Socrates took his final bath before swallowing the poison. At that moment, Crito asked if he had any final instructions. Socrates replied: “Nothing new, but take good care of yourself in whatever you do”. He then swallowed the hemlock poison and lay down in his bed. Just before the end he uncovered his head and told Crito that he owed a cock to Asclepius, The God of Healing, and asked him not to forget to make the offering.

Such was the end of their friend whom they all know as the best and the wisest of men. Phaedo relates, the legend that has it that sick people who slept in the temple of Asclepius hoping for a cure sacrificed a cock to him to help in their recovery. By this final request, Phaedo interprets, Socrates made the point that death was a cure for the ills of his life.