Socrates’ View of Death

Socrates’ View of Death
Plato’s Apology: Socrates Defense represents Socrates’ trial for not recognizing the God’s recognized by the state, inventing new deities and corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates’ speech, however, was not an apology in the contemporary sense. During those times, the name of the dialogue comes from the Greek word apologia, which means a defense or justification. Socrates did not apologize; instead he stood up for what he believed in and defended himself. He began his defense by saying” he was only providing a service to the Gods and that he was the wisest of all men”. This did not work in his favor because he insulted them and as a result, Socrates was found guilty from the trial and was sentenced to death. The one thing that separated Socrates apart was that he did not view death as a bad thing.
Some people find Socrates' opinion on death overwhelming, but yet eye opening. In the end, Socrates' views are not usually favored in today's society. He brings up the idea of death in an extremely logical manner; so logical that is seems almost too simple. In Socrates’ eyes it is ridiculous to fear death because we do not know what death leads to. It is absurd to be afraid of something you know nothing about. That afterlife could lead to something that is amazing in all the right ways or it could lead us to something wrong in all the right ways.
Socrates argues that there are only two logical states of mind one can be in during death: conscious or unconscious. If conscious, then our souls would be relocated. In essence, it would be with others that have left this life prior. In this case, Socrates states that there are only benefits and blessings because one will be able to reunite with loved ones from the past, meet important historical people, continue to grow as a being and absorb wisdom.
If unconscious, then it is also a good thing because it will be like a long nap. 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 forever 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.
It becomes clear that there are many 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 going over the philosophies of someone from thousands of years ago it is necessary 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. Without doubt however, we can all agree that eternal consciousness in a place like hell would not be a blessing at all.