Philosophy and Death
Plato's dialog, "Phaedo," presents Socrates ideas about death, and the fact that instead of shying away and being fearful of the inevitable death, he welcomes it. Socrates sees death as the complete separation of the body and soul, and once this occurs you can obtain knowledge like you never knew you could because prior to this separation your body got in the way. Once you are no longer one with your body, you don't have any basic needs that your body is constantly reminding you to fulfill, and instead, according to Socrates, you can access a level of wisdom that was impossible prior to this. Socrates views the body as what blocks us from knowledge, from truth, and from wisdom. To me, death is something that is fear by many because there is no exact answer to what happens to us when we die; there are theories on theories on theories about this, but there is nothing that straightforward tells us this is what happens. Socrates has a thought that I have always somewhat...