Platońska lekcja śmierci – troska o umieranie

The practical and pre-philosophical understanding of reality contains two fundamental certainties, transience and death. We perceive transience through our experience of the constantly changing world. Death, although intrinsically connected with transience, is something quite different. The Platonic way of practicing philosophy can be said to reveal a real concern about dying. It is an attempt to learn to accept the mystery of death, to commit oneself to the lifelong task of preparing for this special moment, to grow aware of the transcendental reality that we perceive and experience. Plato’s pursuit of wisdom as care for the soul is a kind of continuous preparation for the moment of death. The philosopher whose attention is directed towards the ultimate things turns away from the body and is more concerned about the soul. In the Platonic view philosophy is not sterile intellectual speculation but a special method of developing the proper attitude toward the inevitable.