Nicolas Lindner 
The evidence of immortality in Plato’s ‘Phaidon’ [PDF ebook] 

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Philosophy – Philosophy of the Ancient World, grade: 1, 0, University of Dusseldorf ‘Heinrich Heine’ (Philosophisches Institut), course: ‘Philosophie der Antike’, language: English, abstract: Plato’s ‘Phaidon’ describes the events on the day of Socrates’ death. Unlike the trial writings Apology and Kriton, however, this is not to be classified as a historical document, which is primarily concerned with a realistic reproduction. This is indicated on the one hand by the fact that the narrator states that he himself was not present on the day of his death, and on the other hand by the literary form chosen, in which a spatial and temporal distance is established from the events. Plato’s main concern in Phaidon is rather to prove the immortality of the soul. In order to provide this proof, he has Socrates present four proofs of immortality, which will be the subject of this work. In these proofs, Plato makes use of his central philosophical concepts: the doctrine of ideas and the doctrine of recollection.