Phaedo: Basic Structure

The main question of the dialogue is: Is death bad or good?

Soc argues that death is good—at least for those who are regularly preparing for death

But a worry is immediately raised: Death is only good if the soul continues to exist after death.

Questions: Is this true? Could death be good even if the soul does not continue to exist after death? Is death bad if the soul does not continue to exist after death?

In response to the above worry Soc argues that death does not imply cessation of existence of the soul. The rest of the dialogue has the following structure (I have omitted mention of at least one argument):

            Argument for Pre-existence of the soul 
-from Recollection
                                    -Worry: does not imply post-existence

            Argument for Post-existence of the soul
                        -Affinity Argument
                                    -Simmias’s Objection 
-Harmony Argument
                                                            -Soc’s Response
                                                                        -Analogy fails
                                    Cebes’s Objection
                                                -Cloak Argument
                                                            -Soc’s Response
                                                                        -Argument from Forms

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