His DEATH Set Off the Age Of Philosophy: Socrates - Phaedo by Plato - Harvard Classics - HC2 Ep6 

8:56 this passage here has the feel of platonism; that there is knowledge outside of life and that when we learn, we are gaining access to that realm of knowledge, the realm of forms (as far as this layperson comprehends it).

Please let me know if you are enjoying these episodes in the comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts! Stay blessed!

Your videos are the perfect moment of reflection for me after I finish reading the book. I really look forward to them as you are extraordinarily good at summation. What a gift.

I just came across this channel. Boy what a thinker you are.

I try to watch with a paper, and from from philosophy being a search of something past the body I came up with: 'Philosophy is searching for an existence past the shackles of the body. Does the body not tempt you from the work of the mind? Only the mind tempers the body to physically work it into submission, exhaustion, and repetition,' shabby work, but we try! Thank you for the video Mr. Pirie.

Excellent video, thank you! I did not find the dialogues in Phaedo as easy to follow as the Apology or Crito, and I think a lot of it went over my head. One beautiful passage jumped out at me though, about the Swan Song: “Socrates smiled and said: [the swans], when they perceive that they must die, having sung all their life long, do then sing more than ever, rejoicing in the thought that they are about to go away to the god whose ministers they are… because they are sacred to Apollo and have the gift of prophecy and anticipate the good things of another world, therefore they sing and rejoice in that day more than they ever did before. And I, too, believing myself to be the consecrated servant of the same God, and the fellow servant of the swans, and thinking that I have received from my master gifts of prophecy which are not inferior to theirs, would not go out of life less merrily than the swans.” The other thing I kept thinking in the book were how similar Jesus and Socrates were - neither wrote anything down themselves, both made enemies because of their love of truth, justice, wisdom etc; both died holding absolutely firm to what they believed (as well as many other points - I know a lot has been written about this!). I find Jesus' way of speaking in parables and stories a lot easier to grasp than Socrates' discussions of logic and reason, although maybe that's because I'm more familiar with them. I don't know much about the Stoics either so looking forward to the next book!

Brilliant. Your manner dear Mr. Pirie is gripping and entirely what education in its best delivery is, and invitation to continue into a place of very great desired knowledge with a thirst for the passion of its pursuit! Thank you Sir !

Excellent video! Thank you for mentioning that the theory of recollection is discussed in the Meno. The theory is crucial to the argument that the soul exists before its union with the body. While the speakers in the dialogue merely accept the theory as true for the sake of the argument, the Meno provides a thorough defense of the theory. I liked the Phaedo because it presented a good method of seeking the truth, which is arguing from first principles: "First principles, even if they appear certain, should be carefully considered; and when they are satisfactorily ascertained, then, with a sort of hesitating confidence in human reason, you may, I think, follow the course of the argument; and if this is clear, there will be no need for any further inquiry." This quote reminds me of Descartes's method of radical doubt, which ultimately guided Descartes to the truth of his own existence as a thinking being, upon which foundation he built his knowledge. I also enjoyed reading about how Socrates conversed with Simmias and Cebes. The manner of the conversation showed that the purpose of conversation is to discover the truth, not to win a contest of wits. Socrates frequently encouraged Simmias and Cebes to refute his arguments because only the arguments that have been thoroughly challenged are worthy of acceptance. Finally, I hope to always keep in mind what Socrates said about the tendency of people, including myself, to despair about ever grasping the truth: "When a simple man who has no skill in dialectics believes an argument to be true which he afterwards imagines to be false, whether really false or not, and then another and another, he has no longer any faith left... Very melancholy too, if there be such a thing as truth or certainty or power of knowing at all, that a man should have lighted upon some argument or other which at first seemed true and then turned out to be false, and instead of blaming himself and his own want of wit, because he is annoyed, should at last be too glad to transfer the blame from himself to arguments in general; and forever afterwards should hate and revile them, and lose the truth and knowledge of existence... Let us, then, in the first place, he said, be careful of admitting into our souls the notion that there is no truth or health or soundness in any arguments at all; but let us rather say that there is as yet no health in us, and that we must quit ourselves like men and do our best to gain health." In the past, I changed my mind many times. When I changed my mind, I probably discarded false beliefs and replaced them with true beliefs, which is a good thing. However, when I changed my mind, I always felt slightly discouraged because doing so reminded me that my ability to grasp the truth is flawed. Indeed, I often thought (and still sometimes do think) that perhaps the 'false' beliefs that I discarded are actually true and the 'true' beliefs that I accepted are actually false. For this reason, it is important to argue from first principles. Arguing from first principles will lead to fewer changes in beliefs than otherwise.

This is the essence of education and a wonderful video.

These are great. Appreciate the time and deep insight you are sharing

These videos are too good to be this unrecognized.

Man this is great, Please carry on the Series..

Cool topics you're reading. Phaedo was the one book out of the five that my university philosophy class left out of the curriculum. It's amazing how many concepts, Eastern and Christian, are in this book. Reminds me of the movie Man From Earth. Good Luck with your channel and coffee business!

Thank you for this review of the Phaedo!

I am definitely enjoying these videos

You, young man, are not anywhere near old enough to use, "Peace out!" That was MY generation (I'm 74 and was a teen in the '60s and in my 20s during the "70s.) Scolding aside, you helped me so much to begin to understand what men thousands of years ago postulated. I, like you, had to read the "odd/even" debate several times and finally decided I didn't have the brain power or patience to continue. I'm using a Kindle along with a notebook and had already written down some of the same quotes as you. Good to know my old brain really is still functioning, somewhat anyway...

Thanks for sharing Rob! I have a difficult time following a lot of ancient texts when I read them, but you did a great job of relaying the information in a way that my brain could track. Where were you when I was in school?!?

You're a good teacher. I tried reading Parminides by Plato this past summer but was completely lost. At the time I had no idea about the concept of forms that is discussed. Anyways this stuff is great it makes me want to give Plato's works a try again (In the right order this time).

I love this!

This is great content Rob! It's inspiring to hear about your journey and process. I've started finally looking into those Stoics; currently reading Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, and have a couple Holiday books queued up. Great reccomendations! Those Woolman/Penn Quakers folks are really inspiring as well.

very insightful

They wept not for Socrates but for Themselves, orphans of His guidance and nurture.

I’ll be finishing Franklin’s auto biography soon.

Of the Plato pieces that we’ve read as of yet, I found this one the most difficult to understand. That said, I thought it was interesting to see the back and forth between the group as Socrates is essentially convincing them that he’s going to be okay. While I believe Socrates was largely acting from a logical perspective for his arguments but, I can’t help but believe that a decent portion of this conversation was in an attempt to make his friends feel better about what was about to happen.

thanks

He would have been better off drinking a bomb cup of coffee! Just saying! ☕️