In Plato's Phaedo, the great philosopher, Socrates presents several arguments to the way a human being should live. According to Socrates, the way a person leads their life, determines how their life will end. Achilles and Hector of Homer's Iliad are two contrasting views on how one would live one's life. However, it is Achilles who best fits the philosophical existence according to the views of Socrates.
             An argument Socrates points out in Phaedo is the need to separate one's self from the material aspects in life. "Any man whom you see resenting death was not a lover of wisdom but a lover of the body, and also a lover of wealth or of honors, either or both," (68b) he said. Many of the warriors in the Iliad lived for wealth and honor. They fought for the prize and were known for their rewards. But to truly live philosophically, one must detach one's self from these materialistic qualities.
             Achilles was able to live up to Socrates' reasoning when he
             Another point Socrates presents is the separation of the body from the soul. He believed that "as long as we have a body and our soul is fused with such an evil we shall never adequately attain what we desire, which we affirm to be the truth,"(66b). Meaning that our body distracts us in our pursuit of knowledge and if we believe that our soul will live on after our body perishes, we must detach our souls from our body.
             Achilles may have understood this concept. Once his best friend, Patroclus, dies, Achilles feels that he must avenge his death even though his mother, the goddess Thetis, tells him that he will die very soon after killing Hector. Achilles understands this notion, but he replies, "Then let me die at once," (18.114), going on to say that he is only a "dead weight on the good green earth..." (18.123) Achilles had already detached himself from the world around him. He
             ...