No Need to Fear Death: A Look in "the Trial and Death of Socrates"

People have a choice whether to believe or not believe in the existence of the world and in those who question people's knowledge. Socrates is a firm believer in questioning the universe and every aspect that exist within it. From justified true belief to immortality of the soul, Socrates dedicated his life to form opinions, challenge other people's thoughts, and to asking all the questions. In The Trial and Death of Socrates, particular in the dialogues from Crito and Apology, Plato explored Socrates argument that the purpose of philosophy is to prepare for death without fear.

In Plato's Crito, he describes Socrates, an Athenian philosopher, who chose to die for an ideal. When Socrates states his case to his fellow peers, he is told that he may be acquitted if he agrees to stop practicing philosophy. However, he is unyielding, saying that God commands him to find the truth. Philosophy, which has the goal to improve the soul above all other things, is the very essence of life, Socrates explains. Socrates asserts that his death sentence is actually more troubling for his fellow Athenians than for himself. He sees himself as a public servant who helps the city by his practice of philosophy.

Most importantly, Socrates proclaims through his death that respect for the law bypasses his own motives. In a dialogue between Crito and Socrates, Socrates ask Crito if we (people) could live having an evil and corrupted body and "will life be worth having if that higher part of man be depraved, which is improved by justice and deteriorated by injustice?" (Plato 48), in which Crito exclaimed no. Socrates believed that if he was to ever disobey the law, then he would be rendering evil for evil, a philosophy he does not personally believe. Socrates gives the argument that by disobeying the law, he would be disobeying the very people who gave him life. The law provided matrimony which would allow for his parents to marry and have children, and education so that Socrates could be nurtured and gain knowledge to be the philosopher he is today. The problem with law is that there is no fairness to the methods. The law is passed and put into affect by a person's peers so the law could be viewed as simply someone else's opinion. Socrates believed in justice, but the commonly misused of the law could be viewed as unfair and unjust. So by Socrates supporting following law, he is following injustice.

Socrates is also willing to give up his life to Athens, not as a soldier, but as an example of obedience to the law. He knows that obeying the death sentence will strengthen Athens' system of law. He is not only helping to strengthen the law but he is also strengthening himself by dying. In not disobeying the Athenian law, he is able to have a clear soul by separating it from his body in death. Although a shared opposition to this argument is that fear keeps one from committing evil, Socrates argues that if nothing bad happens to the person, then there is no reason to fear death. "No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death" (Plato 41). However, only through the soul does one gain necessary knowledge to become a good man and Socrates believes that the human body hinders the soul from such knowledge. This argument is proven more thoroughly in Plato's Apology.

The central argument in the Apology that Socrates tries to make is that one should never betray one's own philosophy for any reason, even if that reason is death. Moreover, death should never be a prevention to a man because no man has true knowledge of what happens after death. Plato and Socrates firmly believe that we have no cause to fear death, and, for the philosopher, death is probably a more desirable state to be in than life because one could reason and contemplate without the distraction of the body. There is no proof or reason to believe that through death, one gains the most knowledge especially if one does not know what happens after death. Philosophers were people who pursued wisdom, and according to Plato, the best way to do this was from the mind alone without the body. "For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom" (Plato 30). Philosophers did not fear death because they believed that knowledge and wisdom could be gain through death.

Socrates believed that the state of one's soul was of the utmost importance because one's place in the afterlife, whether it is into nothingness or some other place, and the next life is determined by the state of their soul. When a person dies, his body is left behind and his soul carries on, taking with it every part of soul, which is enriched by the mind through knowledge.

Socrates says that the soul is capable of reasoning and thought, and that those capacities alone can grasp relevant objects, so he believes that no thought at all can be reached through the senses