How Does Socrates Corrupt Youth

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The apology is a form of speech that was addressed to a jury of some 500 Athenians by Socrates in his defense. He was accused with the charge of corrupting the youth and refused in believing in the gods of the state. He starts his speech by addressing the old accuser first. He claims that many before Meletus over the years had accused him. He says that while Meletus is the reason why he is there today, it is the multitude of the voice of old accusers that will get him convicted. People say that he makes outlandish claims and that he corrupts the youth. Also, that he refuses to believe in the gods of the state. He claimed that he knew nothing and that he lacks the ability to instruct the youth on how to make a weak argument stronger. Socrates …show more content…

He makes two points one that no man would wish evil up his self. He knows that if he does evil then in return that evil will come back to him. So, to say that he is intentionally corrupting the youth is absurd. But if he does corrupt the youth its unintentional and therefore doesn’t need to be brought to court but needs to be cautioned privately. Meletus is still insistent on his accusations. So, he goes on to make his second point that Meletus is contradicting his own accusations by saying that he corrupts the youth by teaching them things like virtue, wisdom, and pertaining to divinities but to teach anything pertaining to gods he must acknowledge the gods in some way. But Meletus accused him of not acknowledging the gods of the state. So, therefor Meletus must be lying. He says that Meletus doesn’t care about the youth of the Athens but has a grudge against him and that’s why he wants him dead.
He goes on to compare himself to a gadfly. I didn’t know what a gadfly was, so I had to research. He says that what he does is to wake up the people of Athens from their slumber and that he will not stop even on the pain of death because it’s good for them. He goes on to make the point that if he really is corrupting the youth then why is it that the relatives of that very youth come to his defense showing that Meletus is

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