Plato Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Plato Paper - Essay Example The writings also get used to teach various subjects like mathematics, religion, ethics, logic and philosophy. His exact place and time of birth is not known but it is certain that it came from an influential and aristocratic family. In his writing about Phaedo, Myth of Theseus, he writes about Socrates’s last days. He narrates that Socrates got condemned for polluting the youth of Athens and assisting in the introduction of the worship of strange gods. In the city they wanted him to die through consuming hemlock. However his death was postponed because there was a religious festival that had just started during the trial and according to the Athenian law executions were prohibited during the festivals so that the city could be kept pure. The festival was about commemoration of the event where Theseus traveled with fourteen people to King Minos and they wanted to defeat Minotaur. Plato highlights that the dialogue was ongoing against his knowledge of it and also the fact that the dialogue involved Phaedo and thirteen people, he expects the readers to identify the parallel and expect an outcome similar to the one in his tale (Plato 52). As Theseus moved with the fourteen Athenians who were threatened through Minos to challenge and slay Minotaur known to be monstrous. Also Socrates traveled with thirteen philosophers in the call for argumentation to challenge and eliminate what threatened him and his companions, known as the fear of death. So as Theseus could triumph against Minotour and free Athenians Socrates could also triumph over death. According to Plato, philosophy as a practice is for dying because like philosophy death separates the body from the soul. He argues that philosophers always distance themselves from the body as long as they disdain honors and wealth. He says the body acts as an obstacle in the process of acquiring knowledge, which is the core pursuit and intention of philosophers. According to Plato senses do deceive in some cases but philosophers seek knowledge and truth (Plato 112). He also says that sensuous pleasures and senses distract people from reasoning. According to Plato philosophy is a form of purification which frees the soul off contact from the body. He argued that Socrates had a reason to hope he would be better off if he drunk the hemlock as he would probably find out the truth upon his death and he would also find better friends and masters. He argues that the soul is immortal and it does not die. According to him all generation is cyclical and life equates the opposite of death and the souls of those who are living originate from the souls of the dead. He says that the body dies and decomposes and it cannot be revived but the soul leaves for ever because it is immortal. When a person passes always it is his body that dies but his soul will live on and it come in another person who will be born after the death. Plato also strongly suggested that learning is Recollection. He narrated that Heracli tus maintained that all things are in a form or state of flux where everything is constantly changing and he is remembered for saying that an individual cannot step twice in the same river. Plato supported the Heracliteans who said that every occurrence in the world of time and space was in a continuous flowing motion. Change occurred throughout and nothing could resist change and as a result, nothing was appeared the same in