In the Phaedo, Plato offers a dramatic tableau of Socrates conversing with his friends during his final hours before his state-mandated suicide. As part of this conversation, Socrates makes the case for philosophizing as the key to not only living but dying well, inaugurating the dictum frequently invoked by philosophers from Cicero to Montaigne that “philosophizing is learning how to die.” On the basis of selections from the dialogue we will consider the kind of philosophy Socrates has in mind and how successfully he makes his case for its securing the best life and death.

On Tuesday, October 10 at 6 PM, join Professor Kathy Eden (Classics) for a dinner seminar on Plato’s Phaedo. The recommended readings are attached below.

For those who happen to have a copy of G.M.A. Grube’s translation Plato: Five Dialogues, we will be reading 57C-64C, 69E-70B, 84A-85B, 88D-91C, and 113D-118A.