All 9 sections — from the frame conversation to the final words.
Phaedo is structured as a dialogue within a dialogue. Phaedo narrates to Echecrates; within that narration, Socrates argues with Cebes and Simmias. The nine sections move from the opening frame through four distinct philosophical arguments, the objections that nearly collapse them, the final proof from the Form of Life, the myth of the afterlife, and the death itself. Read in order — the arguments build and the room fills with weight as the day goes on.
Phaedo sets the scene for Echecrates.
Echecrates asks Phaedo for the full account of Socrates's last day. Phaedo agrees and describes the sacred ship delay, names the friends in the cell, and confesses the strange compound of pity and pleasure he felt being there.
Four arguments for immortality, tested by objection.
Socrates makes his opening claim: the true philosopher has been practicing dying all along. Death is the separation of soul from body; philosophy is the attempt to achieve that separation while alive. A philosopher who fears death has misunderstood his own practice.
The argument from opposites. Living and dead are a pair, like the larger and smaller, the awake and asleep. Each is generated from its opposite — so the living must come from the dead, and souls must exist in between. Cebes confirms this follows.
The argument from recollection. We recognize Equality itself though we have never seen it in pure form — only in imperfect instances. We must have known it before birth. Learning is the recovery of knowledge the soul already had.
The affinity argument. There are two kinds of things — visible/changing and invisible/unchanging. The body belongs to the first. The soul, which grasps the eternal, belongs to the second. Like keeps to like. At death the soul goes where it belongs.
The objections land. Socrates answers.
Simmias raises the harmony objection — the soul might be a mere tuning of the body's elements. Cebes raises the worn-cloak objection — even a longer-lasting thing must eventually perish. Together they throw the whole company into doubt.
Socrates dismantles the harmony objection and then builds the fourth argument. Things that bring a property cannot admit the opposite — fire retreats before cold. The soul brings life. Therefore the soul cannot admit death. The Form of Life cannot become its opposite.
The myth, the bath, the cup, the final words.
The arguments complete, Socrates tells the myth of the earth's true shape and the fate of souls. He gives his last instructions — take care of yourselves — answers Crito's question about the body, and goes to bathe. His children and the women are brought in and sent away.
The servant of the Eleven comes in weeping. Socrates praises him and sends for the cup. He drinks without distaste. The friends break. The numbness climbs. He uncovers his face: "Crito, I owe a rooster to Asclepius." Crito closes his eyes and mouth.