Set on the day of Socrates' execution, the Phaedo records his final hours and his sustained case for the immortality of the soul. Through four interlocking arguments — from opposites, from recollection, from affinity with the Forms, and from the soul as the principle of life — Socrates leads his grieving friends toward the conviction that philosophy is nothing other than a preparation for death. The dialogue ends with the myth of the true earth and Socrates' calm acceptance of the hemlock — one of the most moving scenes in all of literature.

Chapters

The Opening and the Argument from Opposites

Recollection, Affinity, and the Objections of Simmias and Cebes

The Final Argument, the Myth of the Afterlife, and the Death of Socrates

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