'Phaedo' Summary

Plato's Phaedo depicts Socrates' final day before his execution by drinking hemlock. Socrates, imprisoned and sentenced to death for impiety and corrupting the youth, engages in a dialogue with his friends, including Phaedo, Cebes, and Simmias. Together, they explore various arguments for the immortality of the soul, including the argument from recollection, the argument from affinity, and the argument from the simplicity of the soul. Socrates argues that the soul is an immortal entity that exists independently of the body and that death is merely the separation of the soul from the body. The Phaedo ends with Socrates calmly accepting his fate and drinking the hemlock, surrounded by his grieving friends.