1. What does Socrates mean when he argues that “the one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death” (64a)? What do we learn from this argument about how Socrates understands the nature of the soul?
2. Which of Socrates’ first three arguments for the immortality of the soul (the cyclical argument, the recollection argument, and the affinity argument) do you think is the strongest and most convincing, and why? Does this argument nevertheless have any important weaknesses?
3. What do we learn from the Phaedo about Plato’s Theory of Forms? How does Socrates’ fourth and final argument for the immortality of the soul draw upon the Theory of Forms?
