Monday, August 15, 2022

A Thought on Plato's Phaedo

I went to sleep last night listening to it (from Stoic Six Pack 6 -- not an affiliate link). I've read it before, but it's been a little while.

The case that Socrates makes for an afterlife (or, more specifically, perhaps reincarnation), from his previous claims that all knowledge is recollection and that everything is just cyclic increase/decrease, is, well, quite interesting.

Which is not to say that I necessarily find it convincing, but it was definitely food for thought.

One of my thoughts, though, every time I dig into his alleged sayings and supposed arc of life:

Is it possible that Socrates was just a wise-ass troll?

I suspect there's a reason that "sophist" eventually became a put-down.

But still interesting.

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