Critical Analysis Of Emily Wilson's 'The Death Of Socrates'

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Emily Wilson’s The Death of Socrates provides its audience with a comprehensive account of how Socrates’s death has been viewed through history since the philosopher ended his life using hemlock in 399 BC. Having set the scene in her introduction, Wilson first outlines Socrates’ philosophy and explains the factors which caused his death. After this, Wilson chronologically details perceptions of Socrates’ death (and to a lesser extent his life), covering an enormous range of intellectual and cultural media in the process, from the writings of Cicero, Voltaire and Nietzsche to 20th century depictions of his death in plays and on television.
The introduction begins by outlining the overwhelmingly positive modern consensus on Socrates: a man …show more content…

Wilson first recognises the so-called ‘Socratic Problem’: due to the differing representations in the sources, there is little certainty “about the historical Socrates” (p.92). Meanwhile, Plato’s (literary) Socrates has proved overwhelmingly dominant in the “western tradition”, (p.94) making it difficult to consider him outside “the eyes of Plato” (p.94) Plato’s Socrates is then contrasted with the different version given by Xenophon, who presents a more ordinary, ascetic figure. This reflects Xenophon’s admiration of Sparta and for him, Socrates’ death demonstrates Athenian “moral decadence” (p.97). Wilson reminds us that though less interesting, Xenophon’s Socrates has been more prominent than Plato’s at various points. Indeed, she suggests that there has been a recent return to a “Xenophontic vision of Socrates” (p.99). After this, Wilson provides a detailed account of Socrates in various works of …show more content…

In the 18th century, the significance of Socrates’ death diverges from Christianity and is swept up by the cultural and intellectual currents of the Enlightenment. According to Wilson, this reflects a “change in the source material”, (p.173) as Plato became increasingly read during the 18th century. Whilst always a topic of focus, Socrates’ life and death was interpreted in several ways during the Enlightenment. Diderot saw the “dying Socrates as a model of integrity.” (p. 180) On the other hand, Ferret contended that Socrates was “no martyr to truth” (p.185) and that his death was a justified political decision on the part of the Athenian government. For him, Athens was rightly condemning the disliked “teacher of Alcibiades and Critias” (p.185) and a “man who threatened the wellbeing of the state.” (p.186) Meanwhile, Voltaire had a more conflicted relationship with Socrates as although he considered him a precedent of deaths caused by intolerance, he disliked the man himself. In the final chapter, Wilson begins by suggesting that the death of Socrates “was seen as an iconic moment in the formation of modernity.” (p.192) Here, she focusses on Hegel, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, who all reflected on the event as the beginning of “modern ethical and political thought.” Hegel considered Socrates’ death as tragic precisely because both sides, Athens and Socrates himself, were correct in their respective approaches. As

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