Critical Essay: Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates' Dialogue on Life and Death, Body and Soul

Introduction

            In this essay, I would critique Plato’s Phaedo (360 BC). First, a critical summary of the great dialogue will be presented. Later, a critique of the dialogue would be provided. In the critique, I will specifically focus on one reason that Socrates claims is plausible enough for us not to fear death. Here I will also explain this reason through my personal perspective and relate it to life in general. The last section of the essay, Conclusion, would sum up the entire essay and would share with the reader my personal viewpoint on Socrates’ views about death as I see it.

            In this essay, the reason that I would like to identify is this: After death, the soul “passes into the realm of purity, and eternity, and immortality, unchangeableness”; and this “state of the soul is called wisdom” (p. 44). I will explain this reason critically and argue that this reason is strong enough for us to believe in what Socrates says: That we should not fear death. Thus, I will argue in favor of his view.

Phaedo: A Critical Summary

            Phaedo (Plato, 360 BC) is considered to be one of the great dialogues written by Plato in his middle period. This dialogue is regarded as one of Plato’s five major works including the Republic and the Symposium. Phaedo is Plato’s last dialogue (Bluck, 2014).

            The dialogue, Phaedo, takes place between Socrates and his friends. It is a discussion that revolves around the major premise, the desirability of death, and is led mainly by Socrates. Phaedo, one of Socrates friends, was one of the people present in the prison where Socrates was locked down to meet his death the very day. Phaedo is a narration of this dialogue by Phaedo to his friend Echerates.

            In the dialogue, besides the casual conversation, the major point Socrates makes is that death is actually a release for us from the many distractions that our body imposes upon our soul. In addition, Socrates argues that death gives an opportunity to a person to attain wisdom in its perfection because by leaving the body at death, the soul “passes into the realm of purity, and eternity, and immortality, unchangeableness”; and this “state of the soul is called wisdom” (p. 44). This premise by Socrates can be explained in simple words. He sees death as an opportunity for the soul to free itself from the changing, dissoluble, and mortal human body. Once free, the soul actually moves to a state which, unlike when in the human body, never alters, changes, and is pure, immortal, and it is this states of immortality of ‘the soul’ that Socrates regards as wisdom.

            Socrates centers his argument mainly on the premise mentioned in the foregoing paragraph. He also maintains that though a true philosopher desires death to reach to the state of perfect wisdom, he does not desire suicide because it is a wicked act, because we belong to the gods, and we do not have a right to finish our lives at our own will. Besides that, death is a blessing and should not be feared. He presents quite a few examples to substantiate this premise throughout the dialogue, and his friends take part as active interlocutors. At the end of the dialogue, Socrates drinks the poison and meets his death.

           

Critique

            A critical analysis of the dialogue, Phaedo, offers quite a lot of points to discuss in this essay, e.g. the difference between the death of a philosopher and the death of a wicked person; whether it is only the philosopher that should be happy at their death or any other person (good or bad) can have the same joy. Because of limited space, however, I will focus on one reason by Socrates that death should not be feared since at death, the human soul, “passes into the realm of purity, and eternity, and immortality, unchangeableness”; and this “state of the soul is called wisdom” (p. 44).

            After thinking for a very long time and doing some research, I can substantiate that Socrates is right in this claim. He also substantiates this premise when he states that because the human body decomposes after death, the soul moves to a state which is eternal and pure. Following Socrates’ argument, I can explain this premise.

            It can be a clear observation that the body is mortal and decomposes after death. If we accept the religious beliefs of Christianity, and other religions such as Judaism and Islam, then we must admit that there is the soul that leaves the body after a person dies. Okay. So, the body decomposes, but the soul does not; rather it travels to another place. This is manifestly given in religious texts such as the Bible. However, I can explain this traveling of the soul on scientific bases. My research led me to an article which recollects the after-death-accounts by people who died for some time but came to life afterward. These people when surveyed about their experiences after death told the interviewer that they felt as if they were travelling to a distant place (Knapton, 2014).

            Leaving all the religious and scientific evidence apart, I can also prove that the soul, in view of Socrates, not only remains alive but also moves to an eternal (and most probably a pure or constant) state. I claim this point by my observation of the world. I can see that the entire world is in two parts, the day and the night, life and death, etc. The tree is a good example here. The trunk and the leaves need the sunshine and the air to stay alive. Whereas, its roots can remain alive in the opposite form and condition: The roots cannot survive in the sunlight and air. The green tree can also not survive when buried. So, my point is that the every object or state of the world is divided into two parts. These two parts of one object, though hand-in-hand with each other, are quite the opposite of each other. This condition remains constant, as far as my observation can relate, with every object of the world.

            This observation also convinces me that life is part of two halves: The body and the soul. Moreover, whereas the body decomposes, the soul must remain alive. The body, after death, continues to decompose (in natural conditions); this also convinces me that the soul would do the opposite of this process: It should continue to travel on. As the end result of the decomposition of the body is eternal expiration, the end result of the soul must be an eternal state of purity in a very similar way in which the day and the night function. The break of dawn creates the first gash in the heart of darkness, and the bright day is the opposite of the darkness of the night. The same, my observation convinces me, is true of the body versus the soul. One is to eternally decay and disappear, the other is to move toward a state or eternal purity (wisdom in Socrates’ words).

Conclusion

            After reading Phaedo and reflecting on life in general, I am very much convinced that death is not be feared because what happens to the human body is quite opposite of what happens to the human soul. Whereas the body decays into the labyrinth of morality, the soul travels to the purest state of immortality. The fear that an average human feels of dying is not because of their fear of death, it is because of the natural system in the human brain that has to put effort to save human life from any harm. We should not confuse the instinct of survival with the post-death condition.

            Thus, I can claim, in view of Socrates, that life is not to be feared but welcomed by us. However, it is well beyond the purview of this essay to argue whether, as Socrates states, it is only the philosopher who should not fear death or this kind of attitude is to be assumed by anyone dying. I would just make an observation that anyone dying should be happy of their death due to the fact that their body and their soul would go in two opposite directions. Whereas the former is to wither away, the latter must move to a state of eternity.

                       

References

Bluck, R. S. (2014). Plato's Phaedo: A translation of Plato's Phaedo. New York: Routledge.

Knapton, S. (2014). First hint of ‘life after death’ in biggest ever scientific study. The Telegraph. Retrieved http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11144442/First-hint-of-life-after-death-in-biggest-ever-scientific-study.html

Plato (360 BC). Phaedo. Abr. Ed. [Trans. Benjamin Jowett]. Public domain translation. [Classroom readings].

Western Governors University - BS Nursing

Western Governors University's (WGU) BS Nursing program is a highly credible and well-recognized academic degree in the U.S. and outside it.

There are quite a few strengths of the program making it a highly credible pick by the certified nurses who want to move on to the next level: B.S. Nursing.

The standard completion time for this online course is 18 months in which the candidate has to cover quite a few time-bound tasks, projects, and activities that add up to their passing score. You can find all the details of this program here.

The purpose of this post is NOT to promote the WGU's BS Nursing program. No way! I write this post only to let you know that, EXCEPT FOR HARD/NATURAL SCIENCES TASKS, I can provide assistance in all the tasks for this program since this is my job to help out students in their time of difficulty while pursuing an academic goal in the middle of their professional and home-based responsibilities.

So, I would give you a brief overview about some of the major tasks required to complete in this program.

The degree is divided in quite a few sections/subdomains of health care and nursing, and each section covers subjects from basic calculus to literature, from evidence-based practice to community health nursing, etc. Major breakdown of the program falls into the following subdomains.

1. Professional development
2. Quality and safety
3. Evidence-based practice
4. Applied leadership
5. Community and population health

Under each of these subject areas, there are quite a few tasks and activities that involve fieldwork, research, collaboration, synthesis, and writing. The overall focus of the degree program, thus, is to develop in the nurse the professional skills and competencies that can help them play an active role at different levels in the health care sector.

If we look at the academic subdomain, Evidence-based practice, there are quite a few writing tasks that help the professional to nurture hardcore skills to play with evidence-based nursing. Evidence-based nursing has now become part of professional nursing, and so, the nurse has to consult available evidence with regards to a health care concern/issue needed for careful decision making.

WGU's EBP is particularly known for developing advanced-level skills for EBP in their students. The reason is that the subdomain enables the nurse to differentiate between different types of literature available in the current health care knowledgebase: 

• Primary research
• Secondary research
• Evidence guidelines
• Evidence summary
• Meta-analysis
• Synthesis of different types of evidence

and so on. Moreover, EBP also requires the nurse to carry out tasks that are field-based, i.e., the professional has to connect the literature search, review, and synthesis to the health care context they are either employed at or has knowledge of.

The end-result of covering the EBP is that the candidate gets away with a bundle of cutting-edge skills in EBP.

Community and Population Health Nursing is the most challenging yet exciting subdomain of BSN at WGU. Challenging because the professional has to carry out very rigorous activities by being part of a community (usually the ones they live in), and by applying the principles of community health nursing in that community to bring about a positive change.


C228 - Community Health Nursing – Task 1

For example, one of the tasks in this domain is Application of Community Health & Population-Focused Nursing, a lengthy write-up around 20 pages. Activities in the task involve applying quite a few tools to identify a community and understand the major health concerns the community faces. This is a field project. There are six mandatory tools needed of the researching nurse (You) to apply to his/her selected context and discuss the application in the main document. These are:

1. Population Economic Status Survey
2. Neighborhood/Community Safety Inventory
3. Cultural Assessment Tool
4. Disaster Assessment and Planning Guide
5. Windshield Survey
6. Population Health Scavenger Hunt. 

There are quite a lot of documents, guides, and links that accompany this task. The details required to carry out each of these six tools are clearly given in these accompanying resources. However, putting them all together in this task requires advance writing and synthesis skills. To make things easy for you, I discuss each of these six tools below giving you the insider's view, i.e., the approach by which you can have your task passed.

1. Population Economic Status Survey
PESS tool is actually a comprehensive approach taken by the nurse while working in the community to objectively understand the major health concerns faced by the community. The rationale for this tool, provided by the WGU, is that it helps the nurse to understand a health concern and argue her position in order to address the issue in favor of her community.

To cut short, the nurse has to dig deeper into major databases at the state and federal levels, i.e., American Fact Finer, City-Data.Com, Census.Gov, Healthy People 2020, etc. Alongside, she has to visit the local community centers such as the City Council, Health Department, non-profit organizations, and so on.

At the end of this exercise of information gathering, the nurse is able to understand the economic drivers at play in regards to the community's overall health status (the poor vs. the rich).

2. Neighborhood/Community Safety Inventory
NCSI is another tool to be applied in the community. It helps the nurse to understand the systemic level factors when it comes to her community's health status. This tool is to be filled up by observing and collecting data from community resources such as fire, police, emergency departments, disaster management to clearly understand the safety-related dynamics and to develop her inventory. Thus, you will have to visit the relevant departments to carry out this task which should involve formal/informal interviews and focus groups with the relevant staff; in addition, searching relevant databases over the Internet is part of the game here.

3. Cultural Assessment Tool
CAT clearly points us to the direction of understanding the racial/ethnic, gender, age-wise makeup of the community to help the nurse to better understand the dynamics of the present health concerns as spread over these domains. Understanding the role of culture is fundamental in community health nursing because it is well established in literature that different ethnic/cultural groups view epidemiology and treatment of a disease differently. For instance, a Hmong community member might possibly explain her epilepsy as a spirit taking her over.

This tool also requires you to search for data. However, it has a subjective element that requires you to meet different people and talk to them, interview them, and understand their viewpoint in relation to a health concern and its treatment. These two areas of investigation combine together to add another dimension to your community health nursing fieldwork.

4. Disaster Assessment and Planning Guide
DA&PG, as the title suggests, is about understanding the many resources your community utilizes to combat a disaster, natural or otherwise. This takes you to survey the community's geography to find out its industry, terrain, etc. and to plan for a possible route to prevent a disaster from hitting the community. DA&PG also asks you to take note of such factors as weather patterns, cultural outlook, contagious diseases, the spread of a disease, etc. It also puts you to trace the local government's position on these variables. As soon as you start to cover the areas given in the tool, the picture of disaster assessment and any loopholes start to emerge for you to argue in favor of your community's health.

5. Windshield Survey
WS tool should have come in the beginning of this list because it is used (and expected by WGU to be used) in the beginning of your community health fieldwork. As the name suggests, this tool is to get the feel of the community through the bird's eye view. WGU's guide to WS states, "While driving through your community, stop for coffee or have lunch in a neighborhood".

Hence, your focus is to bear a holistic understanding of your community's overall feel and look that includes its housing, commercial buildings, open spaces, etc.

6. Population Health Scavenger Hunt. 
PHSH tool follows the footprints of the famous scavenger hunt game. However, in this task, it requires the nurse to choose six facilities from the long list given in the supplementary resource. So, logically, what you're doing here is a scavenger hunt for the community's health by going to these facilities and collecting information. But the approach is rigorous and systematic.

For example, you chose American Red Cross. Now, the hunt requires you to answer the 13 questions given in the same guide from "What is the organization's target population?" down to "What specific services does the organization provide?". At the end, thus, your knowledge of the community is immaculate and you become an expert nurse on that community! Wow, hats off to the WGU's curriculum planners, honestly!

This should be very clear from the tools mentioned that the task is highly beneficial for nurturing community health nursing skills and competencies.

The task discussed above is followed by Community Health & Population-Focused Nursing Practicum. This task is also quite long, around 25 pages, and requires applying the knowledge of the community's health profile (as obtained in the previous task) to address ONE specific health concern (e.g. obesity, cancer, influenza, etc.). For this, the candidate, once again, jumps on to the field and works with a number of community-based stakeholders to come up with a viable health care plan to address that health concern by taking into account the epidemiology and the prevention factors of the health concern.

The fieldwork requires a lot of activities from collecting reliable statistics to critiquing available resources and any loopholes. With these areas covered, the nurse then DEVELOPS effective and EFFICACIOUS interventions. The required number is two.

These interventions are well-planned. You will have to demonstrate every aspect of these interventions, i.e. how you would carry out these interventions, their estimated impact factor, and the objective evaluations of the outcome.

So this practicum is really killing in terms of the skills, deeper level understanding of community health nursing, and the relevant competencies you gain while doing it.

With this brief overview of the WGU's BSN, I would suggest that you should go ahead and get your hands dirty with the explosive knowledge and skills that the program has to offer. However, if you need any assistance anywhere in the program, coming to me will not be a bad idea.

Good luck! My email: meokhan2/at/gmail/dot/com