Sokrates'in idam günü geçen diyalog. Ruhun ölümsüzlüğü ve anamnesis (hatırlama) kuramı üzerine kanıtlar içerir.
The soul, whose inseparable attitude is life, will never admit of life's opposite, death. Thus the soul is shown to be immortal, and since immortal, indestructible.
Were you not afraid, Socrates, asked Simmias, that when the soul leaves the body it may be dispersed like smoke, and that this may be the end of her?
I have a firm hope, said Socrates, that there is something in store for those who have died, and, as has been said of old, something better for the good than for the wicked.
Translated by Benjamin Jowett (1871). The Phaedo records Socrates's final conversation on the day of his death, arguing that the soul is immortal and that philosophy is a preparation for dying. Public domain.
Echecrates: Were you yourself, Phaedo, in the prison with Socrates on the day when he drank the poison?
Phaedo: Yes, Echecrates, I was.
Echecrates: I wish that you would tell me about his death. What did he say in his last hours? We were informed that he died by taking poison, but no one knew anything more; for no Phliasian ever goes to Athens now, and a long time has elapsed since any Athenian found his way to Phlius; and therefore we had no clear account.
Phaedo: Did you not hear of the proceedings at the trial?
Echecrates: Yes; someone told us about the trial, and we could not understand why, having been condemned, he was put to death, as appeared, not at the time, but long afterwards. What was the reason of this?
Phaedo: An accident, Echecrates: the stern of the ship which the Athenians send to Delos happened to have been crowned on the day before he was tried.
Echecrates: What is this ship?
Phaedo: This is the ship in which, as the Athenians say, Theseus went to Crete when he took with him the fourteen youths, and was the savior of them and of himself. And they were said to have vowed to Apollo at the time, that if they were saved they would make an annual pilgrimage to Delos. Now this custom still continues, and the whole period of the voyage to and from Delos, beginning when the priest of Apollo crowns the stern of the ship, is a holy season, during which the city is not allowed to be polluted by public executions; and this sometimes lasts a long time, as the winds may be contrary.
I will tell you, he said, what occurred to me just before and after the execution. My feeling was that I had lost a companion and guide in life; yet when I reflected that the best of good men, and the most just, was departing, I was amazed that he seemed to be content. Death appeared to him not terrible, but as something which would be for the better.
Then, Simmias, as the true philosophers are ever studying death, to them, of all men, death is the least terrible. Look at the matter in this way: how inconsistent of them to have been always enemies of the body, and wanting to have the soul alone, and when this is granted to them, to be trembling and repenting; instead of rejoicing at their departing to that place where, when they arrive, they hope to gain that which in life they had been in love with (and this was wisdom), and at the same time to be rid of the company of their enemy. Many a man has been willing to go to the world below in the hope of seeing there an earthly love, or wife, or son, and conversing with them. And will he who is a true lover of wisdom, and is persuaded in like manner that only in the world below he can worthily enjoy her, still repine at death? Will he not depart with joy? Surely he will, my friend, if he be a true philosopher.
For philosophy is the practice of death. And he who has really been a philosopher will be cheerful in the hour of death. He will have a confident hope that there he will find the wisdom which in this life he has been in vain seeking, and better still, he will be released from the company of their enemy the body, and will dwell with those who have likewise freed themselves, and who are also good men.
I dare say that God is not pleased that I should go to him unless I am forced to. But I have a good hope that there is yet something remaining for the dead, and, as has been said of old, some far better thing for the good than for the evil.
Let us consider the matter in this way: if the soul is truly immortal, what care should be taken of her, not only in respect of the portion of time which is called life, but of eternity! And the danger of neglecting her from this point of view does indeed appear to be awful.
Consider, said Socrates: Is not the opposite of life, death?
Yes.
And they are born of one another?
Yes.
What is born from the living?
The dead.
And what is born from the dead?
I can only say in answer, the living.
Then the living, whether things or persons, Cebes, are generated from the dead?
That is clear, he replied.
Then the inference is that our souls are in the world below?
That is true.
And of two processes, one is more obvious than the other; for sleeping and waking may be observed in us all, and the one is clearly the counterpart of the other: sleeping, waking; waking, sleeping; and the process of generation and death are equally in need of a counterpart.
Absolutely.
Then there is a new argument in proof of immortality. The soul of the true philosopher is always pursuing death and dying, and the wisdom of philosophy is a rehearsal for death.
There is another argument which is easy of comprehension, and appeals to ordinary men. Those who have bodies are in the constant practice of caring and providing for the soul; they eat and drink and clothe themselves; whereas the soul has no body, and is released from all this. She is pure and is the companion of the pure; she has wisdom and truth, she is in the region of the good and true and just and holy.
Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, who was, as I may truly say, of all the men of his time whom I have known, the best and wisest and most just.
When he had spoken these words, he arose and went into the bath chamber with Crito; and we were left behind to talk and think of the subject of discourse, and also of the greatness of our loss; he was like a father of whom we were bereaved, and we were about to pass the rest of our lives as orphans.
Then the jailer, who had brought the hemlock, came in and asked whether he should mix the poison. He replied, Not yet. But prepare the cup, and I will drink when I am ready. He then began to walk about; and when his legs began to fail, lay down on his back, according to the directions of the jailer. The man who gave him the poison now and then looked at his feet and legs; and after a while he pressed his foot hard and asked him if he could feel; and he said, No; and then his leg, and so upwards and upwards, and showed us that he was cold and stiff. And then Socrates felt them himself, and said: When the poison reaches the heart, that will be the end. He was beginning to grow cold about the groin, when he uncovered his face, for he had covered himself up, and said (they were his last words): Crito, I owe a cock to Asclepius; will you remember to pay the debt? The debt shall be paid, said Crito; is there anything else? There was no answer to this question; but in a minute or two a movement was heard, and the attendants uncovered him; his eyes were set, and Crito closed his eyes and mouth.
Such was the end of our friend; concerning whom I may truly say, that of all the men of his time whom I have known, he was the wisest and justest and best.
Platon'un, Sokrates'in yargılanmasındaki savunmasını anlattığı yapıtı. Modern anlamda bir özür değil, sorgulanmış hayatın yaşamaya değer tek hayat olduğuna dair gözüpek bir savunma.
Sokrates hapiste, idamını beklemektedir. Eski dostu Kriton, şafaktan önce gelir ve ona kaçması için yalvarır. Sokrates ise asla haksızlık yapılmaması gerektiğini, başkasının yaptığı bir haksızlığa aynı şekilde karşılık vermenin bile doğru olmadığını savunarak kaçmayı reddeder.
Sokrates mahkeme binasının basamaklarında kendinden emin genç bir rahiple karşılaşır ve ona kutsallığın ne olduğunu sorar. Euthyphron beş yanıt verir ve her birini kaybeder. Diyalog bir tanım bulamadan biter. O günden beri peşini bırakmayan soru şudur: Bir şey tanrılar sevdiği için mi iyidir, yoksa iyi olduğu için mi tanrılar onu sever?
Sokrates şafaktan önce Yunanistan'ın en ünlü öğretmeniyle buluşmaya gider ve erdemin öğretilip öğretilemeyeceğini sorar. Protagoras öğretilebileceğini söyler, kanıt olarak bir mit anlatır. Sokrates öğretilemeyeceğini söyler, sonra kendi savıyla karşıt görüşe varır. İkisi de sonunda çürütmeye geldikleri görüşü benimsemiş olur.