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Is Socrates Right to Say We Should Be Affraid of Death

Essay by   •  March 21, 2012  •  Essay  •  1,378 Words (6 Pages)  •  1,947 Views

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Is Socrates right to say that we shouldn't be afraid of death?

Socrates said in the apology, "you are wrong, sit, if you think that a man who is any good at all should take into account the risk of life or death, he should look to this only in his actions, whether what he does is right or wrong, whether he is acting like a good or bad man (Plato,31b)". What Socrates is implying is that a man who has done good by himself and has lived his life to the fullest then he shouldn't be afraid to die because he has fulfilled his life. I agree with this statement because I would feel the same way, if I lived my life to the fullest and have experienced what I wanted and accomplished what I wanted to where there wasn't anything else I wanted or needed to do with my life I wouldn't be afraid to die. Socrates mentions in that statement that a man should only look back on his own actions on whether he should be afraid to die. I think he makes a very good point because you actions control your life and if you have made bad ones then you should be more afraid to die than you would if you made good decisions. The reasons why we fear death comes from uncertainty about our accomplishments in life, Socrates is right to say that we shouldn't be afraid of death if we lived our lives to the fullest.

"Wherever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, or has been placed by his commander, there he must I think remain and face danger, without a thought for death or anything else, rather than disgrace" (Plato,31d). Socrates believed that if your life has been good and you were a good man than you shouldn't fear death. In this quote he is mentioning that if you follow what you are told and do it well and you die for it you should fear that you should be proud of that. U.S. soldiers everyday follow commands to fight well for us and our country without any fear at all. They do this and fight for our country because they feel good about doing it and they don't fear dieing because they know they died for the right reasons. "No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of all evils" (Plato,32b). I think Socrates is stating that men don't know whether to think of death as a blessing or as a punishment. He implied that they think it is an evil because they aren't mentally stable in their lives to die yet. He's implying that men who have a guilty concions fear death because they deep down they don't feel good or that they have done right in their life.

"Then I showed again, not in words but in action, that, if it were not rather vulgar to say so, death is something I couldn't care less about, but that my whole concern is not to do anything unjust or impious" (Plato,35d). Socrates is a wise man to state that he wouldn't careless about death and all he cares about is not doing anything wrong or unjust. Today people don't care about doing bad things or things that are not right, people are interested in being successful and doing anything in their power to get it. If on your death bed you look back at your life and all you see are the things you did that were wrong and not the things you did right than you should fear dieing because you aren't proud of what you did with your life. In the book a Christmas carol, scrooge is a great example of that, he was horrible to people and he wasn't happy in his life and once he saw what was going to happen when he died he changed that and tried to enjoy his life and be happy. The only

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