— Overview
The Phaedo is told by Phaedo to Echecrates at Phlius. It is Socrates' last day, from dawn to dusk, in 399 BCE. The sentence had been delayed about thirty days: the day before the verdict, the Athenian embassy ship had sailed for Delos, and no execution was allowed until it returned. Plato, 428–348 BCE, met Socrates at about twenty. After Socrates was condemned by a vote, Plato left political life, travelled in Africa, Sicily and Italy, and around the age of forty, about 385, founded the Academy.
The dialogue belongs to the middle period, after the Meno and before the Republic, near the Symposium; people could have read it some fifteen years after 399. The philosopher, Socrates says, should not take his own life, yet should meet death calmly, out of a passion for truth and a belief that the soul is immortal. Learning, on this account, is recollection — anamnesis — of Forms known before birth and forgotten when the soul took a body.
Simmias is given the example of a portrait that reminds us of the person, and of Equality itself, Beauty, the Good, Justice and Holiness, which we know even though no particular in the world is perfectly equal or just. A difficulty remains: if the Forms exist in a separate world, how do they relate to particulars. 'Knowledge is virtue' is mocked by the sophists; later, in the Laws, Plato turns to an art of measurement that would hold theory and practice together.
Among the disciples that day is Crito, already familiar from another dialogue, staying close as the sun goes down.
— Contents and key concepts
A last day delayed by a ship to Delos
The Phaedo is told by Phaedo to Echecrates at Phlius. It is Socrates' last day, from dawn to dusk, in 399 BCE. The sentence had been delayed about thirty days: the day before the verdict, the Athenian embassy ship had sailed for Delos, and no execution was allowed until it returned. Among the disciples that day is Crito, already familiar from another dialogue, staying close as the sun goes down.
Plato, 428–348 BCE, met Socrates at about twenty. After Socrates was condemned by a vote, Plato left political life, travelled in Africa, Sicily and Italy, and around the age of forty, about 385, founded the Academy. The dialogue belongs to the middle period, after the Meno and before the Republic, near the Symposium; people could have read it some fifteen years after 399.
Recollection, the Forms, and a calm death
The philosopher, Socrates says, should not take his own life, yet should meet death calmly, out of a passion for truth and a belief that the soul is immortal. Learning, on this account, is recollection — anamnesis — of Forms known before birth and forgotten when the soul took a body. Simmias is given the example of a portrait that reminds us of the person, and of Equality itself, Beauty, the Good, Justice and Holiness, which we know even though no particular in the world is perfectly equal or just.
A difficulty remains: if the Forms exist in a separate world, how do they relate to particulars. 'Knowledge is virtue' is mocked by the sophists; later, in the Laws, Plato turns to an art of measurement that would hold theory and practice together. The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.
Sources
- Plato, Phaedo. Narrated by Phaedo to Echecrates at Phlius; Socrates' last day in 399 BCE; about a thirty-day delay because the Delos embassy had sailed the day before the verdict. Plato 428–348 BCE; Academy around 385. Middle period, after Meno, before Republic, near the Symposium. Recollection (anamnesis); Forms of Equality, Beauty, the Good, Justice, Holiness; Simmias's portrait example. Suicide refused, death accepted calmly; immortality of the soul. Later appeal, in the Laws, to an art of measurement.
Last updated: 14 November 2026
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