Theme Analysis Plato s Phaedo makes a lot of interesting arguments that are well worth the time taken to contemplate them. Some of the principle arguments will be dealt with here by providing a brief account of their structure, and examining their validity and truth value, as seen by Plato and scholars of Plato.
Death is the separation of soul from body.
The philosopher acting as a philosopher, seeks to affect this separation as far as possible. Therefore, the philosopher practices death. This is an argument that Socrates makes to illustrate why he in unafraid of dying, and why he is thinking rationally when he lacks this fear. Two thoughts to think about are that it is a problem for Plato and Socrates if you say the person dies, and the soul makes up the person because then the soul dies. Remember, that Plato is using Socrates to show that the soul is immortal so this objection is certainly a problem that must be considered by scholars of the text.