Phaedo

The first item of discussion in Socrates' argument is the separation of the body and the soul. Socrates gains full agreement from Simmias and Cebes when he says that death is simply a separation of the body and the soul. He then makes the argument that this parting is what the philosopher should look forward to and work for. Socrates also gains his friends' acknowledgement that the philosopher's lifelong goal is to seek wisdom, and …

…wished it to die, and if you had any punishment you could inflict, you would inflict it?" So, in the dramatic setting of his final day on earth, Socrates enlightens Simmias and Cebes, illustrating the ways that a philosopher has reason to look forward to death. In doing this, he instills a hope for the perpetuity of the philosophical way of life for all of his successors, and those of us who read their works.