Socrates has been seen as a hero known for seeking the truth who sacrificed his life for philosophy. Socrates, a philosopher, was executed by his community for standing alone against his community and daring to question the sacred beliefs that existed. Although Socrates was seen as a hero for some, there were many who saw Socrates as a dangerous figures. Aristophanes’ Clouds, portrays Socrates as a threat to the political community for undermining the laws that govern the community. Aristophanes’ Clouds presents a conservative yet comedic mocking of what goes against the community in attempt to protect it. According to Aristophanes, one of the ways that political communities insures their survival is by restraining from thought, because philosophy …show more content…
In the play, Aristophanes’ Clouds, Strepsiades, an Athenian man who is greatly in debt, decides to enroll his son Pheidippides in Socrates’ school “thinkery” so that he may learn how to make stronger speech (Clouds, pg.120). Throughout the play, major concerns arise on the truth about nature and questions the truth about the gods. In the Clouds, Socrates appears to not believe in Zeus and claims that the true gods are the Clouds. The Socrates in Clouds, has illustrated to many a Socrates who is harmful to the community and that his teachings to the Athenian youth will make the wrongful speech (Clouds, pg.120). In contrast, Plato goes against Aristophanes by illustrating Socrates in the Apology, not as a teacher, but a public speaker, “I have never been anyone’s teacher; but if any one, whether younger or older, desired to hear me speak, I never begrudged it to him” (Apology, Pg.87). Plato shows a Socrates that is not responsible for corrupting the youth since he did not charge people to hear him speak, and those who did hear him speak was by choice. Socrates defends himself in the Apology by saying if he corrupted the youth, they should have come forward and accused him. (Apology, pg.87) Plato’s representation of Socrates in Euthyphro, shines light on the wisdom and knowledge that …show more content…
Socrates is seen in such a way because he is a philosopher. He spends his entire life seeking to know the truth about the natural phenomena of human existence and reason. It is said that Socrates is seen as going against nature, this can be because of the many accusations that were made following the playwright Clouds by Aristophanes. It is the distinctive perspective that traces Socrates to the believe that Zeus has been overthrown by the “Vortex”, which is seen as the principle of all things (Clouds, pg.131). This is illustrated when Socrates tells Strepsiades to think of the Clouds as Zeus-like deities (Clouds, pg.136-137). Aristophanes point of view is that philosophy is contrary to nature, thus because Socrates enforces philosophical characteristics, Aristophanes critiques Socrates going against nature. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Socrates states that he was carried in such way in the comedy of Aristophanes claiming that he was questioning and disbelieving Zeus but in defense Socrates denies this claim and assures the jurymen that he has no expertise of such knowledge (Apology,
Within the many layers of Aristophanes’ comedic play Clouds, the ceaseless conflict between human nature and political virtue is unmistakable. After being expelled from the Thinkery, Strepsiades refuses to give up his cause to evade his creditors and sends his reluctant son Pheidippides to learn the art of rhetoric in his place. Even before venturing to the Thinkery, Pheidippides warns his father that he will severely regret his decision to coerce him into learning with Socrates, a correct prediction. When both Strepsiades and Pheidippides enter the Thinkery, Socrates introduces both the Just Speech and Unjust Speech. Yet, he immediately exits and leaves Pheidippides to observe and “learn them [just and unjust things] himself” (886). The two
For these two articles that we read in Crito and Apology by Plato, we could know Socrates is an enduring person with imagination, because he presents us with a mass of contradictions: Most eloquent men, yet he never wrote a word; ugliest yet most profoundly attractive; ignorant yet wise; wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. Behind these conundrums is a contradiction less often explored: Socrates is at once the most Athenian, most local, citizenly, and patriotic of philosophers; and yet the most self-regarding of Athenians. Exploring that contradiction, between Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen and Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society, will help to position Plato's Socrates in an Athenian legal and historical context; it allows us to reunite Socrates the literary character and Athens the democratic city that tried and executed him. Moreover, those help us to understand Plato¡¦s presentation of the strange legal and ethical drama.
Most of the time, we assume that two different authors have a similar idea of the same thing, but sometimes, the two interpretations can widely vary. The philosopher, as described in both Aristophanes’ Clouds and Plato’s Apology, has certain traits that both authors agree with: they consider philosophers to be thoughtful and curious but not well liked among the people. However, they disagree as to the effect the philosopher has on society. Aristophanes believes that the philosopher is creating unrest in a society that was in good shape beforehand, while Socrates, being a philosopher, sees himself as a key component in the development of Athens. Aristophanes and Socrates have a similar understanding of what a philosopher is, but they disagree
Many people have gone through their lives conforming their beliefs and practices for the sake of fitting in or for the happiness of others, but Socrates was not one of these people. In “The Apology” Plato shows Socrates unwillingness to conform through a speech given by Socrates while on trial for supposedly corrupting the youth of Athens and believing in false gods. Although the title of the dialogue was labeled “The Apology,” Socrates’ speech was anything but that, it was a defense of himself and his content along his philosophical journey. At no time during the trial was Socrates willing to change his ways in order to avoid punishment, two reasons being his loyalty to his God and his philosophical way of life.
People have accused Socrates of teaching their children to question the gods and to question other things within their lives. Both Aristophanes and Plato give well thought out explanations that prove Socrates did not corrupt the youth. Plato briefly describes how Athens’s established constitution that directs the children towards violence and how average Athenian citizens are choosing politicians are the reasons why the minds of the youth have been corrupted. Adding to the proof of why Socrates did not corrupt the youth, Aristophanes’s play, The Clouds, depicted Socrates as a different person, which could have persuaded children’s minds through pathos. The tactic of pathos exaggerated and made fun of Socrates and his questioning. Aristophanes defends himself by stating how his plays are of the satire genre and should not be taken literally. “Who will be able to speak freely anymore if Socrates is put to death,” asks Aristophanes. Socrates was able to teach his ways of questioning because people were able to speak freely. Yes, Socrates may have taught some bad eggs, but he taught so many other good eggs. One person that is an accuser of Socrates and how he corrupting the youth is Tethis. Tethis’s son, Critias, is one of those bad eggs that Socrates taught. What happened to Critias and how he led the 30 tyrants was Tethis’s reason why Socrates corrupted the youth. However, as Aristophanes says, “Socrates only taught students to question their own understanding of things.” This quote demonstrates that Socrates did not tell Critias to overthrow the government and kill 1,500 innocent Athenians. Concluding, Critias thought of this plan all by himself without the help of Socrates. Therefore, Socrates did not corrupt the
The main argument in The Apology by famous ancient Greek philosopher Plato is whether, notorious speaker and philosopher Socrates is corrupting the youth by preaching ungodly theories and teaching them unlawful ideas that do harm to individuals and society. In his words Socrates quoted the prosecution’s accusation against him: “Socrates is guilty of corrupting the minds of the young, and of believing in supernatural things of his own invention instead of the gods recognized by the state.” 1 Further Socrates consistently introduces tediously compiled number of examples to provide valid and sound arguments to prove that he is innocent of the charges brought up against him to the court.
Socrates never charged money for his lessons, and he never really did any formal teaching. He had followers, and they claim that they learned a lot from him. But the fact is, Socrates never did any formal instruction, so he never told people what to believe. Therefore, Socrates could not have corrupted the youth with his teaching, because he never did any teaching in the first place.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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."
In Plato’s Apology it seems that overall Socrates did an effective job using the 3 acts of the mind. The three acts of the mind are: Understanding, Judgment, and Reasoning. These acts are stragically used to rebut the charges made against him during trial. The two charges that are formed against Socrates are corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods. The first act of the mind that we will be looking at is, understanding. The question that needs to be asked is what does corruption mean? The accuser believe that Socrates in corrupting the minds of the children by introducing new concepts. Socrates is trying to teach and involve the minds of the youth by getting them to ask question. It is very important that people are always asking questions about why things are. The next question that needs to be address is what does not believe in the gods mean? Socrates believes in God but that is one god that rules the world, not multiple gods who together rule. They are mad that he has “created” his own god.
In Aristophanes’ Clouds, the character Socrates is clearly intended to be a subversive member of Athenian society. He runs the school, the Thinkery, which takes in young Athenians and teaches them what Aristophanes portrays as bizarre concepts and ideas, “whether the hum of a gnat is generated via its mouth o...
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).
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.
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
Socrates was a philosopher who set out to prove, to the gods, that he wasn't the wisest man. Since he could not afford a "good" Sophist teacher, surely a student of one had to be smarter than he. He decides to converse with the youth of Athens, but concludes that he actually is wiser than everyone he speaks with. He then realizes that their lack of intelligence is the fault of their teachers. Socrates understands that the practice of "sophism" leads to a lack of self-knowledge and moral values. Socrates was later accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and put on trial. In The Apology of Socrates he sta...
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...