Phaedo

M. Paula Zapata
PHIL 220
April 5th, 2010
Phaedo by Plato

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, reason, mind,language and values based on logical reasoning with the objective of pursuing wisdom and virtue. This field has been studied almost since the beginning of human existence and has become a veryimportant subject of study nowadays.
Socrates was a philosopher who was considered to be a very wise man, not because of his great knowledge, but because of his realization of the things hedidn’t know. He always believed that it is important for a person to live an examined life in order to attain a virtuous life. In order for a man to fully examine and have pure knowledge ofsomething at all, he needs to use his pure intellect and be freed from his body and wealth. It appears to be that to gain virtue we must be dead because we need to be detached from our bodiesto avoid falling into confusion or illusion. Therefore, philosophy is directly related to virtue; a true philosopher is in search of separation of the soul from the body so that he can bevirtuous.
Socrates believes that for a philosopher to find virtue, he must meet death because that is when the soul is completely separated from the body. According to him, since death is thetrue way to find virtue, one must not be afraid of it and not think of it as being evil. Someone who thinks their virtue comes from pleasures and fears, detached from wisdom, has a false imageof virtue. True virtue is composed of temperance, justice, courage and wisdom which are the purification of pleasures and fears.
Thus, we are able to see that philosophy and virtue comehand in hand. For the purpose of achieving virtue, one must follow devotedly philosophy. That way we will be able to examine ourselves in a thorough manner and attain a state of genuine happiness.