The setting for this dialogue is different than the previous dialogues we covered; the dialogue is set in the town of Philus where a dude named Phaedo, who was with Socrates when he drank the hemlock, meets with another dude named Echecrates who asks him about Socrates' last days.   Phaedo begins by explaining why Socrates' execution was delayed and that he visited Socrates with Xanthippe, Socrates' wife, on the morning of his execution. Xanthippe becomes distressed and a bit hysterical and Socrates asks her to be taken out. Some of Socrates' close friends ask him why they ought to hasten their own death like Socrates wants to. Socrates responds: "he, who has the spirit of philosophy, will be willing to die; but he will not take his own life." It is in death, Socrates continues, that the soul finds its home. The reason is that the body inhibits the soul from the attainment of truth; "the philosopher more than other men frees the soul from association with the body as much as possible." This should not be read as an ascetic hatred of the body (though many have read it that way), but a dizzying concept that the body is, by its nature, a limitation. Truth and the soul are not limited but are immortal and free. Death is but a portal to attain the freedom necessary for the complete attainment of truth.  Socrates then gives multiple arguments to prove the soul's immortality. Socrates' final argument is that the soul is immortal because it is the cause of life itself--it would, by necessity, have to precede and succeed life.  This dialogue is one of Plato's most famous, both for his formulations of "the Forms" and the soul, and documenting the final moments of Socrates before his death. Tune in to grapple with the dizzying nuances of Socrates' arguments and question the foundation of reality and life as we know it.  For further questions, comments, or suggestions, please reach out to us at: [email protected]