The Doubt of the Thebans

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the purpose of the Socratic case for the immortality of the soul as it is presented in Plato's Phaedo, considering the dialogue through four distinct lenses that show different layers of philosophical intent. This interest in what we can know of death is broadly representative of what we can know of anything unknown, or of knowledge as such. In laying out the pursuit of the answer to this ultimate question, Plato displays the form of the search for knowledge in a larger sense, and reveals something about the way in which doubt, wonder, and certainty are related.