Socrates maintains that death is not something we should fear, and presents several arguments for his position. He insists that since no one can be absolutely sure of what awaits us after we die, we cannot rationally fear death without seeming ignorant. He is so confident in his belief that even as he is about to die, he had no fear whatsoever. I feel, however, that his arguments against fearing death are not sound as they are based on his personal opinions and not on facts. In the Apology of Socrates, he says that 'To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils. And surely it is the most blameworthy ignorance to believe that one knows what one does not know.' If we were to analyse this more closely, we would see that Socrates makes three arguments which leads to a conclusion. Firstly, he says that no one can be sure that death would not be the greatest blessing to a man. I agree with this statement as it is a fact. It is impossible for any living man to know what comes after death, and it is impossible to communicate or ask the dead. This portion of Socrates' argument is hence sound and valid. I, however, disagree with Socrates when he insists that we should only fear what we know for certain. Socrates says that since we can not be absolutely sure that death isn't the biggest blessing to men, we cannot fear it. However, the reverse can also be true. No one knows that what comes after death isn't the most horrifying experience to men, and to not fear it would be foolish too. Since none of us actually knows what comes after death, either fearing or not fearing it isn't an issue at all. There are many examples where we take risks in our lives, not knowing whether the outcome would be favourable or not, and yet still rationally fear it.
