Plato's Apology

What is an Apology?

(An analyzation of Plato’s Apology with a personal comparison)

What is your definition of an apology? Nowadays we think of an apology as an expression of our sorrow, but is that the true definition of the word? A long time ago, around the year 399 B.C.E. the word apology meant something quite different than it does now. Then, the word apology was defined as an explanation of why one thought that they were right, it was not an expression of sorrow or an acknowledgment of an offense, but rather a clarification of one 's viewpoint. In the history of literature we have one large, prominent example of this older definition of apology, and that is the work by the philosopher Plato, entitled, Apology. Plato’s Apology was

Fear is something that all individuals have to fight, much like the debate about taking the high road it is something that everyone will have dealt with at least once in their life. We are all afraid of something, whether it be psychological or a physical object, fear is there. How do we combat our fears? Do we just not think about them, or take the things that scare us, away? In the opinion of Socrates, we should never be afraid, of anything. Much like the last characteristic that we talked about, we learned this lesson on fear, by thorough observation on Socrates’s example. During the trial in Plato’s Apology we saw what it was like for Socrates to stand fearless under the false persecutions of his accusers. Even to the very end, he stood valiantly in order to prove what he believed in. How can they have this enduring fearlessness? The answer is easy, because we have already talked about it in the past two paragraphs, we must always defend what we believe, and take the high road no matter what. By making the connections now, I hope that you are able to see why all three of these characteristics are important. Upon my inspection into Socrates’s discussion during the trial I have begun to determine which ones appertain to my own life, personally. In the end, the most important lesson that I learned from Plato’s Apology was that we should never be