How is Phaedo a guide to death?

Question:I'm doing a research paper on The Trail and Death of Socrates. On how the dialog Phaedo is a guide to death.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm doing a research paper on The Trail and Death of Socrates. On how the dialog Phaedo is a guide to death.

I'm not sure if it is necessarily a guide to death so much as it is arguing that the philosopher, by nature, is moving towards death whether he knows it or not. Why? First one needs to understand Socrates' definition for "death" early on in the Phaedo. Death is the separation of the soul from body. Simple. Secondly, we need to understand Platonic dualism (Plato's Metaphysical Dualism). The "two worlds" theory, right. The World of Being, where reality actually is and the World of Becoming where appearance resides. The material world we live in is the World of Becoming. Socrates argues throughout the Phaedo, and does a lot of poetic explaining, that the body and soul are in opposition. The soul desires knowledge and truth while the senses of the body move towards the appearances (which are not real). Well, knowledge is of what is real not what is NOT real. Socrates says that knowledge cannot be obtained so long as we are in our bodies. That philosophers are men who strive for knowledge means that they desire to abstain from the pleasures of the body so as to move closer towards the "goal of reality". But, to do this one must be completely away from the senses, right? What is death again? To be separated from the body (soul from body). To transcend into the world of Being (where reality is) and know truth and be satisfied. Simply by virtue of wanting to know truth and have knowledge we try our hardest to abstain from giving into our pleasures all the time. We are denying our bodies and wanting to get away from the senses which distract us from our goal. To desire this is to desire death. Whether you like it or not (according to Plato). The second half of the Phaedo Socrates is arguing for Plato's view on how one knows things.

Hope this helps.