Book 5, The Phaedo: Chapter 3, The Phaedo Conclusion & Notes Summary and Analysis

This is the second half of the final dialog. Unlike the other dialogs there are notes after the end of the book as well as before. Together these describe the The Last Days of Socrates. There are a number of other dialogs written by Plato in which Socrates is a major figure. Readers might be impressed by the discretion and subtlety of Plato in terms of his relation to Socrates within the dialogs. He is not unheard of, but he is "just one of those who are counted amongst his friends."

This begins in the midst of the dialog, right after Socrates and Phaedo have felt overwhelmed by the strength of the arguments put forward by some of their other friends. Socrates explains that when people understand...