Did Socrates Understand Death?

Socrates, sometimes known as the "father of philosophy", had a interesting life and started many schools of thought that still remain the predominantly held belief today. One of his most interesting theories deals with his perspective on death. To understand his position on death its necessary to understand how he himself died.

Socrates was sentenced to death by the court of Athens for "corrupting the youth". All the individuals that Socrates embarrassed by his interview method (the Socratic Method, we now call it) became enraged at Socrates and sought to end his life via the Athenian judicial system. Despite a beautifully crafted speech in which he reached out to every member of the assembly hearing his case, Socrates was sentenced to death. Not just any type of execution, his penalty was death by ingestion of hemlock, a poisonous herb which has been used for centuries as a lethal poison. Socrates was surrounded by family and friends the day he was forced to carry out his fatal sentence.

As the story goes...
The story goes that Socrates preached his beliefs while pacing around his cell waiting for the hemlock to kick in. Never expressing fear for the future, or anxiety for what he might feel. Socrates just calmly and coolly told his students that he had nothing to fear out of death because it is irrational to fear what the future will hold when you have no evidence to suggest it will be a lesser existence then this current life. Eventually the hemlock did its job and Socrates slowly sank into a sitting position where he stayed. Aristotle, Socrates' most renowned student, was ill and unable to visit Socrates for the execution. Despite this, Aristotle would later write his account of what happen in his book "Trial and Death of Socrates" which today is the main piece of literature divulging the knowledge of one of the world's greatest philosophers, Socrates.

Socrates's thoughts on Death
Socrates opinion on death is eye opening for some; he expresses views that are certainly not held by mainstream society today. He approaches the idea of death in an extremely logical fashion; maybe so logical that it seems too simple. According to Socrates, it is irrational and illogical to fear death because we do not know what death entails. It is ridiculous to be afraid of something you know not about because it could very well be a blessing, rather then a detriment Socrates explained. According to Socrates, there are logically only 2 possible states of mind in which you can be in during death. These two are either conscious or unconscious. If in death we are all conscious then our souls (which meant the mind) would be relocated to be with others from the prior plane of existence (this life). In this case, Socrates exclaims that death would be a great blessing because we can reunite with loved ones and meet the greats of history and continue to grow intellectually and as a seeker of wisdom. If in death we are unconscious then it is also a great blessing because it will be like a long slumber. Socrates explains how even a king enjoys a long restful slumber, and that having one of these long slumbers for eternity might not be bad but rather a blessing. Unconsciously resting for eternity could very well be a blessing in deed in the way Socrates explains it. So out of these possibilities, both could be blessings Therefore death may be a thing to look forward to, and may not necessarily be something to be feared.

After reading several criticisms it becomes clear that there are several possibilities that Socrates left unaccounted for. One of these possibilities is consciousness without relocation to the minds of others, like if you just were conscious but all lone somehow in your own plane of existence. Another theory Socrates left unaccounted for is relocation of the soul to a location where consciousness is torment; such as hell. However when critiquing the philosophies of someone from thousands of years ago it is required to realize that these other possibilities that Socrates did not explain away or account for are all new thoughts and developments branched off of religions created after Socrates' death. Certainly however, we can all agree that eternal consciousness in a place like hell would not be a blessing at all. In fact, the prospect of eternal life of torture is something which I believe warrants being afraid of death.

Just something to think about.