Socrates, the father of modern Western philosophy, once said, shortly before his own death, that “[Those] who have come into contact with the philosophy of the right way devote themselves to nothing other than dying and being dead” (Phaedo 64A). In other words, Socrates believed that the philosopher's life should be centered on preparation for death. Although this may seem like a morbid reason for existence, Socrates argues that the body prevents the soul from finding what is true through sensory experience, needs, and emotions, and that liberation alone from this sort of " prison” is death. Socrates furthers this argument by arguing that throughout his life he has prepared for death and that he need not worry when it comes since the soul is eternal. In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates considers the body as "...an obstacle to the very attainment of reflection." (Phaedo 65B) and therefore the soul of the true philosopher must be separated from it to obtain true enlightenment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay For example, Socrates claims that the body "...deprives us of leisure on thousands of occasions [and hinders] our hunt for what is." (Phaedo 66C). Ultimately, the A philosopher's highest desire is the search and attainment of truth, but the body hinders his search due to necessities such as food, shelter and security, and emotions such as love, desire and terror, through desires, necessities, greed and other impulses, the body perverts the soul's desire for wisdom into "lust for money and desire for honor" as if the soul. was enslaved to the needs of the body (Phaedo 67E) Socrates then goes on to say that “…any man who made a fuss about the prospect of dying was not a lover of wisdom but a lover of the body (Phaedo 68C). Philosophy itself comes from the ancient Greek "philo-", meaning love and "-sophia", meaning wisdom (Mark). Together, the two terms mean "lover of wisdom" and are defined as "the". study of the most fundamental and profound questions of human existence.” (Brand). Socrates furthers this argument by stating that there are simple, unchanging ideas in life, such as justice, beauty, and the good, which will never be understood through sense experience (Phaedo 65D). Earlier in the text, Socrates provides examples of how throughout the text his life he distanced himself from the desires of the body in order to better prepare it for death such as rejecting indulgences relating to food , to drink, clothing, sex and honor (Phaedo 64C) in exchange for thoughtfulness, which was the only thing of true value and purified all impurities (Phaedo 69C). In conclusion, Socrates states that once the soul is freed from the body, it will finally be prepared to achieve truth and enlightenment. Once Socrates establishes that the body and the soul are distinct entities and that the desires of each vary, the other two philosophers in the dialogue question Socrates' confidence in the eternal life of the soul and whether its time to preparing for death was a loss. In response, Socrates gives two distinct arguments to justify the eternal nature of the soul which continues its life "among the gods." (Phaedo 69E). The first of these arguments is the "argument from opposites" and Socrates states that opposites seem to seek each other, as the "opposite of being asleep is of being awake" (Phaedo 71C). Therefore, since opposites exist in relation to each other, whether pain or pleasure or weak to strong, there exists an opposite state to life which is death. However,..