Classical Philosophers

427, Plato saught out political status. But during the Athenian democracy, he did not activly embrace it. Plato devoted his life to Socrates, and became his disciple in B.C. 409. Plato was outraged when Socarates was executed by the Athenian democrats in B.C.

Since Socrates only taught by means of public conversation and oration, most of what we know about him we learned from his student; Plato. Unlike other philosophers of his era, Socrates didn’t concern himself with issues on how or why the world worked; he pondered things like how man should live and what morality means. Socrates was hailed as the inventor of the branch of philosophy known as ethics. It is exactly his concern with Swetnam 3 ethical matters that lead him into conflicts with the city elders, who accused him of corrupting the minds of the sons of the rich with revolutionary and unorthodox ideas. “The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.

It turned out very badly. The king insisted on behaving like a king and of course make the Athenians democrats look good by comparison. Plato managed only with difficulty to return safely to Athens. His end was peaceful and happy, for he is supposed to have... ... middle of paper ... ...l the centuries since his time, down to the very present day – thousands who have never read his dialogue of absorbed a sentence of his serious teachings – nevertheless believed with all their hearts in the reality of Atlantis. ( To be sure, recent evidence of an Aegean island that exploded volcanically in 1400 B.C.

The jury was so angered by his offer that they voted by an increased majority for the death penalty. Socrates’ friends planned his escape from prison and death but he preferred to go by the law and die for his cause. His last day was spent with his friends and that evening he calmly drank a cup of hemlock according to the customary procedure. Plato described the trial and death of Socrates in the Apology, the Crito, and the Phaedo. Plato’s dramatic picture of a man willing to die rather than abandoning his commitment to philosophical inquiry offers up Socrates as a model for all future philosophers.

Xenophon and Plato disagree with this saying that Socrates did not accept any payment for his teaching, with his poverty acting as proof of this fact.” (AncientGreece.com, Socrate... ... middle of paper ... ...ps like him a native of Stagira, though her origins are disputed, as is the question of her exact relationship to Aristotle.” (Shields, Aristotle) In 323 BCE Aristotle left Athens again. The reason Aristotle left Athens is, because he was worried for Alexander the Great’s safety who had just contracted a disease. He died on Euboea in 322 BCE from Digestive issues at the age of 52. He left behind the philosophy that all humans are mortal. Later on the Church used Aristotle to explain their teachings to the people of the middle ages.

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 by speaking of his first accusers. He speaks of the men that they talked to about his impiety and says that those that they persuaded in that Socrates is impious, that they themselves do not believe in gods (18c2).

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.

THESIS STATEMENT Patriotism aided in Socrates' acceptance of his death, although believing he was unjustly convicted of corrupting the youth of Athens and creating divinities in place of the gods. PURPOSE STATEMENT Through books and essays about Socrates, research, and analysis it shows that he was truly guilty of his crimes and accepted them willingly although he believed he was innocent. INTRODUCTION A member of the jury watched as the defendant, tense and nervous, looked over at the Kleptsydra, or the water-clock, and realized time is of the essence. When the Kleptsydra is empty, the jury of five hundred, who are expected to make a decision, look puzzled and confused on which side to vote for. After counting the votes, the verdict, guilty.

In 399 BCE, one of the wisest men in history was put to death. This man was not only extremely wise, but also highly influential. He was a leader of the highest caliber. This is Socrates, arguably one of the most prominent men in philosophical history. Socrates is a figure of evolution, when referring to the way people think.

Plato was repelled by the aims and methods of the Thirty and welcomed the restoration of the democracy, but his mistrust of the whimsical demos was deepened some four years later when Socrates was tried on trumped up charges and sentenced to death. Plato was present at the trial, as we learn in the Apology, but was not present when the hemlock was administered to his master, although he describes the scene in vivid and touching detail in the Phaedo. He then turned in disgust from contemporary Athenian politics and never took an active part in government, although through friends he did try to influence the course of political life in the Sicilian city of Syracuse. Plato and several of his friends withdrew from Athens for a short time after Socrates's death and remained with Euclides in Megara. His productive years were punctuated by three voyages to Sicily, and his literary output, all of which has survived, may conveniently be discussed within the framework of ... ... middle of paper ... ...rk, once again takes up the question of the best framework in which society might function for the betterment of its citizens.