¶ … Thomas Kuhn, how does science normally progress?
To one who was less familiar with the philosophies and proclivities of Socrates, it must seem extremely curious that the vaunted Greek philosopher willingly chose to escape his sentence after he was condemned to death on charges that were largely fabricated. Socrates was essentially accused of contaminating the minds of the youth with his teachings, and for that alleged 'crime', he was supposed to drink poisonous hemlock and die. Socrates, however, had no objections to his fate because he was not afraid of death, which is why he did not want to escape from imprisonment or from serving his death sentence.
There are multiple reasons as to why Socrates had no fear regarding death. Nearly all of them pertain to his conception of the soul, and the specific attributes which he believes it possesses. Firstly, Socrates had a strong conviction that the human soul was eternal. He believed that the soul existed prior to finding its way into the physical body. Similarly, he believed that the soul would continue to exist long after one's physical body passed away. Therefore, Socrates did not believe that the death of his physical body would constitute the end of his existence. Instead, he was convinced that his soul would continue to endure. Because he saw no certain finality associated with death, he was not afraid of it. Due to this dearth of fear of dying, he willingly accepted his...
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