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Trial and death of socrates critical summary
Trial and death of socrates critical summary
The life and works of Socrates
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“The philosopher Socrates remains, as he was in his lifetime, an enigma, an instructable individual who, despite having written nothing, is considered one of the handful of philosophers who forever changed how philosophy itself was to be conceived”(Nails). A great philosopher named Socrates once changed the very way man perceived nature. Socrates was a man that lived life to its fullest, from being a foot soldier, or hoplite, to freelancing around the town hall barefoot and smelly. Socrates, because he never wrote or recorded anything, is only known today from non-primary sources, and the majority of what we know is only from the second half of his life.
Socrates, like most men during this time period, had a toned body; however, Socrates’ features would not exactly be considered “beautiful” in Athenian culture. His nose expressed huge nostrils by having an upward point, and he had very bulging eyes, as if someone was strangling him and his eyes were about to pop out. The repulsive appearance does not stop there, though. On a regular basis, Socrates would roam the great city of Athens barefoot, in dirty clothes with a vile stench. This was unacceptable in social life, and people frowned upon him for this physical appearance(Nails).
Historians did not learn of his appearances from his own writing. In fact, Socrates never wrote or kept written records for anything. Most of our knowledge of Socrates comes from second hand stories and written sources, although not all match. Some depicted him as a goofy man filled with clumsiness who wreaked of the stench of alcohol. Others say this mastermind and outstanding teacher brought a whole new meaning to life for man. Which one are historians to believe? Well this brings me to the “Socrati...
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...ys, Socrates was not very liked by Athenian culture. With unbearable physical appearances as a burden, he also had a mindset that contradicts Athenian culture itself. When Athens brought Socrates in for trial, he was convicted of dishonoring Athenians gods and corrupting youthful minds. This conviction happened in 399 BCE. The penalty for him was death. They ordered him to drink some brewed hemlock, which would poison and kill him. As Plato put it when discovering of Socrates’ punishment, he stated, “He appeared both happy in manner and words as he died nobly and without fear”(“Socrates”).
Works Cited
Nails, Debra. “Socrates”. Stanford University. Stanford University, 16 September 2005. 18 April 2014. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates
“Socrates”. History.com. A&E Television Networks. 18 April 2014.
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/socrates
Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own but rather aimed at bringing out the worst in his interlocutors.
Nails, Debra. “Socrates”. Stanford University. Jan 29, 2014. Web. Feb 16, 2014. Retrieved from: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/#SocStr
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
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 (Philosopher) – He was a Greek philosopher recognized as one of the creators of Western Philosophy. He was famous for his Socratic Method, an art of reasoning. Socrates was born on 469 B.C. in Alopeke. His father, Sophroniscus was a Stonemason or a sculptor and his mother, Phaenarete was a midwife. Socrates was married to Xanthippe who had a not-so-good temperament. Xanthippe gave birth to three sons who were Menexenus, Lamprocles and Sophroniscus.
The first sets of charges against Socrates are from Plato 19a-24a where the early accusers accused Socrates of being a physicalist and sophist. These charges in truth were false and were not placed against him. The next sets of charges against Socrates were specific charges found in Plato 24b-28a. These charges were made by Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon. The accused charges Socrates was acquitted guilty for were corruption of the youth, and impiety. For these charges Meletus demanded death penalty which Socrates received at the end of the trial. Socrates was guilty for corrupting the youth not in a bad way but a good way. He corrupted the youth by educated them and trying to keep them out of trouble and the bad of the community. Yet on the other hand Socrates was not guilty for being impiety. Socrates says “ I do not have the leisure to engage in public affairs to any extent, not indeed to look after my own, but I like in great poverty because my service to the gods” (23b). Therefore making Socrates not guilty of being
In 399 BC, Socrates, the great philosopher in ancient Greece, was put to death under the hands of his Athenian fellow-citizens to whom he had a strong attachment, after a final vote with over two-thirds of jurymen against him. We cannot experience the situation where Socrates gave his final argument in the court of law. From Plato’s Apology, we admire Socrates’ brilliant rhetoric and rigorous logic, while at the same time feel pity for him and indignant with those ruthless jurymen. However, the question of what exactly caused his death and why was Socrates, such a remarkable thinker sentenced to death in the very society that valued democracy the most is not easy and straightforward to answer. There are multiple elements involved that finally caused this tragedy in which “a person of high moral principle is confronted step by step with a situation from which there is no escape” (38). First of all, the moral principle and belief in divinity held by Socrates are inconsistent with those of the Athenian society, implying the very crimes charged upon Socrates were not completely groundless. Secondly, the imperfect juridical system of Athens played a role in causing this tragedy. What’s more, Socrates himself, could have offered better defense in the court, also had a hand in his own death by his stubbornness regarding to his own interpretation of wisdom and piety. His rebuttal, though brilliant and insightful, was not persuasive enough to move the fellow-citizens for his wrong approach and sophistry in his cross-examination on Meletus.
(Plato, Apology). We may doubt with reason that Socrates life and personality were done in the same way over time. Thereby, what may had seemed to be the nature of comedy is actually a deviously source for facts about anybody. A fine reason to believe that Socrates depictions aren’t merely a comic overstatement. Referring to the depiction just mentioned it’s essential, because Plato's Socrates states that at his trial most of his jurors have grown up believing the falsehoods were spread about him.
It takes one person to begin expanding a thought, eventually dilating over a city, gaining power through perceived power. This is why Socrates would be able to eventually benefit everyone, those indifferent to philosophy, criminals, and even those who do not like him. Socrates, through his knowledge of self, was able to understand others. He was emotionally intelligent, and this enabled him to live as a “gadfly,” speaking out of curiosity and asking honest questions. For someone who possesses this emotional intelligence, a conversation with Socrates should not have been an issue-people such as Crito, Nicostratus, and Plato who he calls out during his speech.
Throughout the reading, Socrates has been seen to be defending and contradicting his own words constantly. Despite what he has claimed or said, they all in the end were taken towards the opposite way. He once even claimed that he does not need to defend himself, yet without him realizing what he is actually doing. He is defending himself and making himself acceptable towards the accusers. Accusers have stated that his teachings are demonic towards the youth, "Thereupon, those examined by them are angry at me, not at themselves, and they say that Socrates is someone most disgusting and that he corrupts the young.
Socrates was a famous Greek philosopher. His work laid the groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy. In his life, he taught students including Plato and Xenophon. Socrates comes to us through Plato’s writing. Plato’s writing tell us everything we know about Socrates.
Similarly to Oedipus, Socrates was thought highly off because he was smartest thinkers of his time. Socrates tried to spread his wisdom and knowledge by enlightening and teaching the youth of the society. But in the majority eyes of Athens, he was viewed as corrupting the youth because Anytus and Meletus accused Socrates front of the council that he does not believe in Athenian Gods and have corrupted the youth, for they were no longer as obedient after meeting them. When defending himself Socrates said hat he is trying trying to teach spread his wisdom for the younger generation he questions Meletus by referring to horses.
Socrates wrote nothing about philosophy or his life. However he is still considered a very important philosopher in Greek history. The only documents written about Socrates’s life are written by Plato, Xenophon, and Aristophanes. His most well known traits were his communication skills and his ideas. According to Plato, Socrates fought in the battles of Amphipolis, Potidaea, and Delium for the Athenian army. “Aristophanes' writings describe Socrates running a sophist school and getting paid for it. 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...
Socrates was known to be a philosopher in ancient Greece, specifically Athens, who laid down the foundations of western philosophy. He was born in 469-470 BC and died by execution in 399 BC for his philosophies. His ideologies are extremely appreciated today for many uses. His philosophies are guidelines on how we should live, but Socrates never once wrote his teachings down. The majority of his work was documented by Plato, who was one of Socrates followers. Many considered Plato as one of his students, but Socrates was documented to have not taught for money or opened his own academy of philosophy which suggests that Plato was not an actual student of his. The main source of information about Socrates and his work is not documented by him
When Socrates was brought to trial for the corruption of the city’s youth he knew he had done nothing wrong. He had lived his life as it should be lead, and did what he ne...