Death in Plato, Socrates and Epicurus

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body. This is the reason why - in terms of Platonic philosophy - death is not to be feared. In fact, according to Plato death is a state of perfection that should be desired. It is for this reason that Plato states that "the true philosopher is ever pursuing death and dying" (Phaedo 64A) (Dictionary of the History of Ideas)

The Platonic attitude to death is summed up the following quotation:

Plato's notion is that the soul is a prisoner in the body, that the body is an

obstacle to the acquisition of knowledge, that the philosopher is a seeker after truth, and that the attainment of true knowledge is possible only when the soul is liberated from the chains of the body, which is what death means to Plato. (ibid)

These ideas relate to Plato's philosophy of death in that he states that the central aim of philosophy is attain the ideal 'truth' through the understanding of the distinction between mind and body. This means that philosophy has the same aim as death - to ...

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- points to the fact that people have experience of ideas of ideal beauty, perfection and equality. Plato argues that these ideas could not have come from an imperfect word and therefore they are proof of another more perfect and complete dimension.
Epicurus also addresses the fear of death. However, his view of death is based in a very different view of the meaning of life. While Epicurus too, like Socrates, also claims that we should not worry about death, he has a very different philosophy. Epicurus developed a totally materialistic philosophy, which emphasized that human beings are composed entirely of atoms. Because he viewed all animate and inanimate objects and life in ...

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