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Reflections on plato
Plato philosophy short essay
Philosophical work by plato
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After reading “The Apology of Socrates”, I feel very strongly that Socrates was innocent in the allegations against him. “The Apology of Socrates” was written by Plato, Socrates most trusted pupil, who in fact wrote everything for Socrates. Numerous times in his defense, Socrates points out ways that what he is being accused of is false. The point of this paper is to show how Socrates did this, and to explain how he proved his innocence by using these quotes. He uses a lot of questions to the accusers to prove his points and is very skilled in speech and knowledge. This essay’s purpose is to explain why I think Socrates was innocent, and how he proves that in his speech. The first thing Socrates is accused of is being a busybody. Socrates …show more content…
Aristophanes wrote a comedy about this accusation and Socrates does refer to this in his trial. The comedy portrays him as someone who “swings around claiming he’s walking on air and talking a lot of other nonsense on subject that I know neither a lot nor a little but nothing at all about.” (Plato 650) Socrates goes on to explain that he has “acquired this reputation because of nothing other than a sort of wisdom.” (Plato 651) He goes deeper into this explanation by saying he possesses “human wisdom. For it may just be that I really do have that sort of wisdom, whereas the people I mentioned just now …show more content…
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
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.
Plato, when leading up to identify the first of Socrates’ charges, begins by stating such charges stemmed from the belief that Socrates was being condemned for being a “wise man”. Plato seems to rant on about Socrates’ accusers being “circulators of this rumor, and their hearers are too apt to fancy that speculators of this sort do not believe in the gods.” Plato states (Plato). Continuing, he
In “Apology”, Plato talks about Socrates’ life and his qualities. Socrates appeared as talented as a simple man, friendly in communicating, quick-witted and sharp in repartee, love people Athens, and especially respect truthfulness and honesty. As Plato’s essay said, Socrates believed that the care of the human soul is the biggest concern of the people, so he spent a lot of time considering his personal life and the lives of the people of Athens. There are 2 charges against Socrates in the Apology. First, Plato shows that the philosophy of Socrates started from an event that seemed to have the arrangements of destiny – when he was middle-aged, Socrates’ friend, Chaerephone, went to the temple Delphi at Athens to see if there was anyone wiser than Socrates?
During this essay the trail of Socrates found in the Apology of Plato will be reviewed. What will be looked at during this review is how well Socrates rebuts the charges made against him. We will also talk about if Socrates made the right decision to not escape prison with Crito. Socrates was a very intelligent man; this is why this review is so critical.
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.
In Plato’s Apology, when Socrates is pleading his defence, he makes a good argument against the charges of corrupting the youth of Athens. This is evident when he states that, firstly, Meletus, the man who is trying to get Socrates executed, has never cared about the youth of Athens and has no real knowledge on the subject. Secondly, Socrates states that if he was in some way corrupting the youth, then he was doing it unintentionally or unwillingly, in which case he was brought to court for no reason. Finally, Socrates brings to light the fact that Meletus doesn’t have a single witness to attest to Socrates’ corruption. This is how Socrates proves his argument that he isn’t responsible for corrupting the youth of Athens.
A. Under trial for corrupting youth and not worshiping the Gods in Athens, Socrates takes an attitude that many might interpret as pompous during his trial. Rather than apologise, as Plato’s dialogue title Apology suggests, Socrates explains why he is right and those who accused him are mistaken. He speaks in a plain manner, as if the jury is just another of his followers. Socrates first cites the profit at Delphi for why he behaves in ways that lead to him being under scrutiny of the law. He explains that his friend, Chaerephon, went to ask the oracle if anyone is wiser than Socrates and the oracle responded no (21a). Socrates then explains his interpretation of this being that he is wise in knowing that he does not know certain things, where
Although Socrates never wrote any of his philosophy down him self, one of his followers, Plato, is believed to have written first hand accounts of the teachings of Socrates. Based on the Five Dialogues of Plato, it can be concluded that many of Socrates’ contemporaries did not like him. As detailed in the defense of Socrates in Apology by Plato, Socrates constantly questions Athenians on what they believe to be their knowledge. Many of the people that Socrates questions are well respected and thought to be experts in their fields and do not take kindly to the challenges made against them. Socrates is taken to court by a few of the professionals he
The argument in Plato’s Apology is that one should never betray one’s values for any reason, even if the reason is death. This statement is the basis of everything Socrates states during the trial. Values is also his reasoning for himself and for the jury. Socrates makes a promise to the jury that he will never stop philosophizing even it mean disobeying the court. This standpoint emphasizes and underlines obedience. The people before Socrates are considered influential Athenians. These wrong doings Socrate is accused of includes not recognizing the gods, inventing new gods, and corrupting the youth of Athens. During the trial of Socrates, the court addresses issues such as his views on death. Socrates proposed that death was ultimately a good thing. Socrates states that there were two outcomes of death. Either through dying, one has no longer any awareness of anything. In Socrates second outcome of death, one’s soul experiences a transformation and becomes this perfect being. While addressing the jury Socrates ...
Withstanding trial Socrates was exposed to a slew of accusations and false rumors regarding his accusers. Although
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.
Within the duration of this document, I will be discussing the charges laid against Socrates and how he attempted to refute the charges. One of the reasons why Socrates was arrested was because he was being accused of corrupting the minds of the students he taught. I personally feel that it is almost impossible for one person to corrupt the thoughts and feelings of a whole group of people. Improvement comes from the minority and corruption comes from the majority. Socrates is one man (minority).
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 ...
Socrates claimed to the jury that didn’t matter, hence he was doing what the oracle required of him, he was simply doing what the gods wanted him to do. While he is talking, he is justifying himself to the jury, so he mentioned that in the process of testing the wisdom of those who thought as themselves wise, a group of rich young men who seemed to get a kick of Socrates making fools of their elder began following him and in effect began imitating him. This made people angry, for is one thing for Socrates to go around making fools of everyone he talked to, but for a young man to do it, was just insolence, therefore Socrates was charged with corrupting the youth which leads to unjust blame placed on him for him himself never asked to be imitated. So, this concludes Socrates defense against his old
Socrates was a man that was in search of the truth about wisdom. However, it became more than just a simple search, rather it tuned into a complex assignment where the answer of true wisdom leads Socrates to be brought up on charges of corrupting society. As a philosopher Socrates is known to take every angle of an argument and to never put belief into one idea. Therefore Socrates was known to perplex even simple ideas and to frustrate his opponent. People who have experienced this accuse Socrates of making his own truths about the natural and unnatural world when in actuality he his still in search of a better meaning. This becomes a key factor in the "Apology" where Socrates is brought up on charges for corrupting the mind of the youths and the people that attended to his lectures. His best defence comes about when he tells the Athenian jury about his account of a confrontation of his friend Chairephon and the Oracle of Delphi.