| Abstrakt: |
This article argues that the Phaedois written as a new sort of story of how a hero faces death. The opening of the Phaedomakes clear that two features that Plato closely associates with tragedy, pity and lamentation, are inappropriate responses to Socrates’ impending death, and that tuchē(chance) did not affect his happiness. This is the first step in the dialogue’s sustained engagement with tragedy. For Plato, tragedy falls under the category of stories about heroes and gods. Plato wrote the Phaedoso that we would see Socrates as a philosophical hero, a replacement for traditional heroes such as Theseus or Heracles. In fact, I argue that the Phaedomeets every requirement in RepublicBooks 2–3 for how to tell stories about heroes and gods and so belongs to the same broad category as tragedy. Within this framework, it tells the story of how a true hero saved his companions through philosophy. |
