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Socrates Argument Analysis

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Socrates Argument Analysis
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In this paper, I will evaluate Socrates’ argument from Phaedo for why philosophers should desire death, perhaps only secondly to wisdom. I will argue that Socrates unfairly characterizes the truthfulness of the senses, and therefore projects a pessimistic view of the philosopher’s virtue during life. This pessimism towards life in conjunction with arguments for an afterlife that liberates reason, seems to suggest that Socrates believes philosophers should desire death: a happy prospect for condemned man, but perhaps a biased one.

Clarification: Socrates prefaces his argument with by justifying the suggestion that philosophers, who live their lives rejecting their bodies, are in fact better off dead. Therefore philosophers
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