Phaedo Four Levels and Question Answers
- Plato (428/427 BC-348/347 BC)
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| Phaedo Four Level |
1.LITERAL COMPREHENSION :
'Phaedo 'is a story about the Death of Socrates. it was written by Plato, a great Athenian philosopher .it is written in the form of a dialogue between Phaedo and Echecrates.Phaedo,a disciple of socrates had the opportunity to weakness his master's execution. he relates the events of the final day of his master to his friend Echerates.
According to Phaedo,socrates was a wise and brave man. he challenged everyone's ideas through his endless and circular socratic dialogue. he was accused of misleading the youthes through his teaching to speak for the truth. as he publicly denounced the athenian Gods, he was arrested by the authority and was going to be executed. but his execution was prolonged due to athenian's tradition of sending a ship to Delos on a holy mission. No public execution would take place untill the ship came back because the city had to be kept pure during the mission. socrates had enough time to withdraw his claims and get excuse from the authority. the authority and his disciples also wanted him to beg excuse . but socrates wanted to to die by speaking the truth than to live by falsehood. he decided to give up his life in favour of truth and Justice. Therefore he did not change his decision.
Phaedo describe the events of the execution day. all his friends and disciples had assembled in front of the court . socrate's wife brush into tears when she saw his friends coming to see him for the last time .socrates sent her away and began the philosophical discussion. at the end of it, Crito asked wheather he had any direction for his friends and disciples. socrates answered that there was nothing new to say just he would be pleased if they look after themselves .Crito asked how they should burried his dead body. socrates replied that they could do as they wished because he would not be in his body after death. His soul would already be on the journey to another world, so it would not matter how they treated to his lifeless body.
Towards the end of the death, socrates took bath. The Prisoner officer arrived to bid farewell with tears in his eyes. socrates considered him as a charming person. socrates demanded the poison to bring without any delay.Crito suggested him not to make hurry to drink poison because other people celebrated the last hour with dinner and wine and generally drank poison as late as possible ignoring the warning of the authority. but socrates was not interested to live any longer. he thought that he would get nothing by clinging to his life. since death was not the ultimate end but just transition from physical world to the world of enternity for him.Meanwhile, the person who was to administer the poison, arrived with a cup of hemlock. before drinking the poison, socrates wanted to offer libation to God but the man said that only normal dose was prepared so he had to drink it all.when he drank the poison, his friends who had been controlling themselves till then, began to wail and weeb but socrates did not like that because he wanted to be in peaceful frame of mind. so he told them to be brake and to stop crying. Shortly, the poison made him feel heavy, he led down on the ground and passed away with his last words which way a request to Crito to offer a coak to asclepius, the divine healer. it was Greek costume to offer coak to divine healer after one's recovery from an illness. for socrates he was recovering not dying. This suggested that he believed on the hereafter and he reality the reality of after life. Crito asked if he had to say anything else, but socrates did not speak.
2.INTERPRETATION :
This story might be telling us about how we should face death. from socrates we can learn to face death bravely and peacefully police. Maybe it is inspiring us to live by our ideals , not being afraid of any kind of punishment.
3.CRITICAL THINKING :
This story is too much idealistic . the idea of facing date bravely is impractical .another debatable issue is socrates' believe on hereafter. can we accept the issue or idea which is no proven scientifically? Souls passing from one body to another is quate imaginary. socrates seems to be rather conservative even if he seems radical in his view about deadbody because all the religious believe on the proper funeral ceremony of the deadbody. Moreover ,it is not always possible by our ideas .
4.ASSIMILATION :
The story teaches me a very important lesson that I should face the death bravely and I always should stand for the sake of truth and Justice. while reading the story, I remembered our four martyrs: Sukra Raj, Dharam Bhakta, Ganga Lal and Dashrath Chand. They chose brave death rather than cowardice life. They all died for the sake of democracy and humanity. like sokrates, they did not care for their personal needs and just thought for others.
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Question Answers of Phaedo
Q1.Basing your answer on the next tale ('Phaedo'), answer the question : how should a human being face death?
ANSWER: According to the story, Phaedo, human beings should face death bravely and peacefully. we should not be afraid of death. In the story ,Phaedo, socrates easily accepts his death. he believes that we should have courage to die bravely if we are correct.
Q2.Do you accept socrates' belief in the hereafter? If you share his views, what might a contemporary Biologist say about them?
ANSWER: No, I don't accept socrates' belief in the hereafter. because the science has not proved yet that soul passes from one body to another body. it is just superstition.
Q3.Why was socrates given a death penalty? Or why was Socrates given the poison hemlock?
ANSWER: Socrates was charged for 'corrupting the minds of the youth' and 'refusing to accept the Gods of the state' if found guilty the sentence could be death penalty . socrates was given three hours to put forth is argument and defend himself in front of 500 of fellow Athenians as Jury's. Socrates was 70 by that time and was famous for his popularity among youth and his anti-democratic views. after hearing both side of the argument Jury's decided to take a vote on their decision in which socrates was voted guilty by 280 Jurys . which made socrates to go on death sentence. since Athenian law prescribed death sentence by drinking a cup of poison hemlock, socrates was given hemlock.
Q4.Who was socrates ?
ANSWER: Socrates was a Greek philosopher and is considered the father of western philosophy. when the political climate of Greece turned against him, socrates was sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning .
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