Socrates is at the age of seventy and appearing in a law court for the first time. For the people of Socrates time is accusing Socrates, for miss leading the youth corrupting them and boasting about being wise, causing him to become very unpopular. Socrates says to the jury I am going to speak the whole truth, for it is me by myself that I have to defend. He says my accusers are many and I don’t know them, they say, “you should be careful not be deceived by an accomplished speaker like me” (Cohen, Curd, & Reeve, 2000). The accuser goes on to say that Socrates is accomplished speaker; Socrates starts to praise them, because their lies are so good well put together, that Socrates himself is almost convinced but then he says that they do not speak the truth.
Socrates says he has two kinds of accusers, those who just started accusing him and the old ones. Socrates finds himself in a hard place, because when he is telling the jury the story of why he is being accused he finds it very difficult to make a defense for himself. Socrates asks to hear the charges against him, Meletus says Socrates is guilty of boasting about being more knowledge than the rest studying things that no man dares to study; like the earth and what’s under the earth. Socrates says I never said such things if someone has witnessed to hearing me say so then let him come and speak. Socrates states that none of these charges are true.
Socrates proceeds to explain why he is being accused, his longtime childhood friend Chairephon also a friend to many of the accusers, who is now dead. Went to Delphi the god of wisdom, it was Chairephon who asked Delphi is there any man wiser than Socrates. The god Delphi answered nobody was wiser. Socrates thought surely this must be so...
... middle of paper ...
...ise Socrates, that the people vote against him. Socrates was a teacher of knowledge; he didn’t do it to gain wealth. Socrates is clearly now asking what he has done to deserve this. So the jury votes again the punishment is death.
Socrates says I’m not being put to death because of my lack of defense, but my lack of boldness. I think at this point Socrates is trying to be humble because he is seventy years old already close to his death and they are condemning him to death, for what nothing. Socrates prophesies that vengeance will come to you as soon as he is dead. In the end, Socrates is not hurt, he is glad to die because trouble is coming to the city of Athens. He is humbled up to the last moment of his life.
Reference
Cohen, S. M., Curd, P., & Reeve, C. D. (2000). Readings in ancient Greek philosophy: from Thales to Aristotle (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett.
Throughout all the years, he never could find anyone as wise as himself, and all he did was make enemies searching. These enemies are now his accusers, and they accuse him of spreading evil doctrines, corrupting the youth, and not believing in the Gods. Throughout the speech, Socrates continues to shoot down every accuser and it is evident that he has done no wrong. Eventually, one of his accusers states that he must be doing something strange and that he wouldnt be that famous if he were like other men. Socrates did not live a very public life unlike most people at that time. His thoughts of being virteous had more to do with examining yourself and becoming a better person and in that way, you benifit society. He did not believe Athens to be virtuos at all, and that they relied on materail things and reputation rather than finding happiness by searching for it deep within
In his work Socrates’ Apology to the Jury, Xenophon produces an account of the Socratic deliberation –and indeed the logic that seemed to inform that deliberation- over his trial. Specifically, Xenophon, provides his readers with an ambivalent justification of Socrates’ chosen rhetoric during his trial, namely his “boastful manner of speaking” or megalegoria (Patch, footnote 2). Indeed, instead of choosing to deliver a speech that would gain him the jury’s sympathy and the city’s acquittal, Socrates proceeds to deliver a speech that is characterized mainly by its ironic arrogance. Xenophon goes so far as to provide his readers with a kind of statement of purpose that frames Socrates’ megalegoric speech; Socrates had, in the words of Xenophon,
In fact, it’s I who can call what I think is a sufficient witness that I’m telling the truth, my poverty.” (Plato 661) Socrates also states “if I really do corrupt the young or have corrupted them in the past, surely if any of them had recognized when they became older that I’d given them bad advice at some point in their youth, they’d now have come forward themselves to accuse me and seek redress. Or else, if they weren’t willing to come themselves, some of their family members…would remember it now and seek redress.” (Plato 663) There was no one in the audience who stepped forward to speak on behalf of his accusers. Socrates consistently proved by words, how the accusations against him were false. In the end, he was accused of all of these things and put to death. This goes to show how much they truly hated Socrates and that no matter what they were told, it wouldn’t have mattered, they would have found a way to punish him in the
In the Apology, Socrates is on trial and is faced with four accusations from his accusers. Two were old accusations, and the other two were new accusations. Socrates, started with the old accusations first because they have been circling around for a long time, he states,"They got hold of most of you from childhood; they spoke to you at that age when you would most readily be them, they say there's a man called Socrates, a "wise" man, thinker about things in the heavens, and investigator of all things below the earth, and someone Who makes the weaker argument the stronger, those who hear believe those who investigates such things do not acknowledge the gods either"(Apology 22). These old accusations, have been told from generations which would not only cloud their judgment on him. But, also persuade them to believe it's true.
The people in Athens are still respect him, that is why they will treat him seriously and put him in jail. Drifting away the idea of justice, Socrates’s idea challenges the society. Each society has its limit to tolerate, the behavior of Socrates provoke the authority of Athens openly. In this case, Socrates die for the insistence of his own
For every teacher one may have, there is always a wiser teacher. Socrates is the wisest teacher in the city-state of Athens. A man who has been teaching his wise ways of questioning to students for over 25 years in the Agora is Socrates. Having been known as an adept to questioning, many adolescents and adults sought direction by Socrates. However, people have created accusations against Socrates such as not believing in the gods. Why put Socrates on trial now? At Socrates's trial, both the defense and prosecution have provided strong evidence, but the prosecution was not as strong as the defense. From the defense side, you'd hear from Plato, who is Socrates's most notable student, Crito, who is a lifelong friend of Socrates, and finally Aristophanes,
In “The Apology of Socrates,” Socrates shares his view of his fellow Athenian citizens; he accuses these citizens of caring more about their wealth and reputation than about wisdom, truth, and the state of their souls. Socrates deems “wisdom, truth, or the best possible state of your souls” to be more important to a meaningful life. One of the reasons Socrates is on trial is because he is accused of corrupting the youth. When roaming the streets, after being called the man with the most wisdom, he begins to ask all the smartest people he can find to ask them questions. He begins to realize that the people in power are not that smart after all. Socrates comes to the conclusion that the people with power and reputation have essentially denied to themselves that they do not know, and pretended that they do. This led to the idea of Socratic Wisdom, which is basically knowing that you do not know. This idea of putting reputation over truth and wisdom is very much still prevalent today, and could even be considered human nature.
In Plato’s Apology, Socrates uses religious appeals, proof by contradictions and various examples to argue for his innocence in court. Socrates is forced to argue for the sake of his life to prove that he is not guilty. In Socrates’ speech, however, he is not apologizing for anything instead, the word comes from the Greek word “apologia,” that translates to a speech made in defense. In this paper, I will argue that Socrates’ decision to stay in Athens and to accept suicide was unethical, because he purposefully antagonized the people who control his fate and this ultimately led to the death penalty.
The Apology is Socrates' defense at his trial. As the dialogue begins, Socrates notes that his accusers have cautioned the jury against Socrates' eloquence, according to Socrates, the difference between him and his accusers is that Socrates speaks the truth. Socrates distinguished two groups of accusers: the earlier and the later accusers. The earlier group is the hardest to defend against, since they do not appear in court. He is all so accused of being a Sophist: that he is a teacher and takes money for his teaching. He attempts to explain why he has attracted such a reputation. The oracle was asked if anyone was wiser than Socrates was. The answer was no, there was no man wiser. Socrates cannot believe this oracle, so he sets out to disprove it by finding someone who is wiser. He goes to a politician, who is thought wise by him self and others. Socrates does not think this man to be wise and tells him so. As a consequence, the politician hated Socrates, as did others who heard the questioning. "I am better off, because while he knows nothing but thinks that he knows, I neither know nor think that I know" (Socrates). He questioned politicians, poets, and artisans. He finds that the poets do not write from wisdom, but by genius and inspiration. Meletus charges Socrates with being "a doer of evil, and corrupter of the youth, and he does not believe in the gods of the State, and has other new divinities of his own."
Plato was the author of the Apology of Socrates, which was one of the four major works of ancient Greek literature. Though the title was the Apology of Socrates, the text referred to the defense speeches of Socrates against the Athenian council. At the end, Socrates was found to be guilty and was sentenced to death. However, the Athenian council was not acting justly because Socrates did nothing wrong as he had successfully developed a reasonable logic against the charges. I will address this notion through the analysis of the arguments and the logic that Socrates used to conduct his defense.
He applies this logic to mean that he must go around Athens and show others that they are not actually wise, so that they can become intelligent like him. As a result, he feels he is helping the society of Athens as a whole. By a small number, Socrates is found guilty and the jury comes to a decision to put Socrates to death. To further his display of haughty behavior Socrates’ response is to say in a mostly joking manner that the city should be giving him a medal of honor. He continues on to reject exile and prison time, suggesting that he pay a fine. Socrates’ reaction is unlike what is to be expected. He believes that it is ridiculous to fear the after-life because it does not make sense to fear things he does not know (29c). When given a chance to defend himself Socrates doesn’t cry, beg, or bring family matters into the courtroom, thinking it better to die after an honorable defense than live on against his own
In his defense, Socrates claims over and again that he is innocent and is not at all wise, “…for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great.” Throughout the rest of his oration he seems to act the opposite as if he is better than every man, and later he even claims that, “At any rate, the world has decided that Socrates is in some way superior to other men.” This seems to be his greatest mistake, claiming to be greater than even the jury.
Socrates was not guilty as charged; he had done nothing wrong, as seen in the Apology. Not even a priest could tell Socrates what he had done wrong religiously, Euthyphro wasn’t even able to give Socrates a precise definition of piety. It is then questioned by Crito why Socrates would remain to face a penalty for a crime he did not commit. In the Crito, it is explained why, although innocent, Socrates must accept the penalties his peers have set upon him. It is his peers that will interpret and enforce the laws, not the law which will enforce it. Even if the enforcers don’t deserve attention and respect because they have no real knowledge to the situation, Socrates had put himself under their judgment by going to the trial. Therefore, Socrates must respect the decisions made by the masses because the decisions are made to represent the laws, which demand each citizen’s respect.
Socrates was indicted to a court of law on the charges of impiety, and the corruption of the youth of Athens. Three different men brought these charges upon Socrates. These men represented those that Socrates examined in his search to find out if the Delphic Mission was true. In that search he found that none of the men that promoted what they believed that they knew was true was in fact completely false. This made those men so angry that they band together and indicted Socrates on the charges of impiety and the corruption of the youth. Socrates then went to court and did what he could to refute the charges that were brought against him.
Socrates starts his defense by addressing the jury and telling them that his accusers had a prepared speech, while Socrates' speech will be completely improvised. Socrates continued to further disassociate himself from the opponents by telling the jury to forgive him for his conversational tone in his speech, for that's how he best speaks. He also asks the jury to keep an open mind and not concentrate on how his defense is delivered, but the substance of his defense. Socrates tells the jury that he is not a sophist. Sophists were known for charging fees for their work, and Socrates does not charge a fee for his words. His next decides to cross-examine Meletus. Basically Socrates turns the tables on his accuser and accuses Meletus of "dealing frivolously with serious matters." Socrates says that the youth he supposedly corrupts follows him around on their own free will, because the young men enjoy hearing people and things being questioned. In this line of questioning of Meletus, Socrates makes him look very contradictory to his statements in his affidavit. Socrates then moves on to the second part of his defense. Moving on to the second charge that he does not believe in the Gods accepted ...