Phaedo:
I thought of Nancy Astor's last words: Is today my birthday or my death?
(Jakie, is it my birthday or am I dying?)

the socrates of meno and phaedo is clearly the voice of plato. when socrates goes from questioning everything (the real socrates) to "concluding" things he previously had--or would have--questioned (plato) he becomes a rather uninteresting and mundane character. still, when the true socrates shines he really does shine. ( )

12/6/21

Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo. Plato, translated by G.M.A. Gruber. 1981. This was the first reading selection for the new book club. I hadn’t read Plato since Dr. Lott’s class in world literature at Montevallo, so reading it was tough, although the more I read the easier it became. After the discussion I want to go back and re-read it! What struck me was the similarities of the ethical concerns in these with Judo-Christian thought. ( )

Every educated person should read these brief dialogs because they are the closest thing to an underpinning of Western philosophy. ( )