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The trial of socrates
The trial of socrates
The trial of socrates essay
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There are several main argument in The Apology by Greek Philosopher Plato, such as Socrates were that he argues the physical over metaphysical, he argued the weaker claim over the stronger claim, he went against the gods, and he was corrupting the youth. These are the allegations brought against Socrates amid his trail. But Socrates dependability presents drearily ordered number of cases to give legitimate and sound contentions to demonstrate that he is guiltless of the energizes conveyed against him to the court. One of the things that makes the Apology so successful writing is the way that is written, at base, the record of a trial. By their extremely nature, trials have a tendency to be sensational and fascinating issues, particularly when, …show more content…
“In my investigation in the service of the god I found that those who had the highest reputation were nearly the most deficient, while those who were thought to be inferior were more knowledgeable.” (Socrates, Apology) “Either I do not corrupt the young or, if I do, it is unwillingly,” (Socrates, Apology) “Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you…” (Socrates, Apology) “I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long…arousing and persuading and reproaching…you will not easily find another like me.” (Plato, Apology) “To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know.” (Socrates, Apology) “I go to die, you go to live. Which is better God only knows.” (Socrates, …show more content…
“The unexamined life is not worth living” and “Life is about the journey, not the destination.” I relate to both of this quotes because we all have purpose in our life. We plan out life to be certain way. I plan week in advance so I know what is going to happen this week, what is in plate that I have to take care of it before the time. You need to be control on your life not others. Some people just float though life. They think of their present but they don’t think for their future. They just do the stuff right now and later they will worry about other stuff. They are never ready for future outcome. Only you know how you want to live your life, it’s up to you how you want live it. As I say I plan week ahead for my classes, my work and my family. But it doesn’t always go as it planned. In life you always have to be ready to face some problem. If you live through the problems that is call living life. My dad always tells me that, if you accept the challenge, or face some bad time with smile on face, you will always come out of there and then even the big problems comes you will be ready for it. Don’t ever get nervous for the small problems. Life is made of good time and bad
One of the argument found in Plato’s Apology is that during the trial, Socrates had tried to defend himself in front of the judges and spoke, “If I disobeyed the oracle because I was afraid of death, then I should be fancying that I was wise when I was not wise”. This is an example of a Deductive Argument because it has a hypothetical syllogism which consist of having a conditional statement for both its premises in this case. More interestingly in this argument, it consists of pure hypothetical syllogism due to the fact that both statements are conditional. Based on the information given in this form of argument, I believed that this is considered to be an invalid argument because the conclusion does not necessarily follow both premises as
Plato's The Apology is an account of the speech. Socrates makes at the trial in which he is charged with not recognizing the gods recognized by the state, inventing new gods, and corrupting the youth of Athens. For the most part, Socrates speaks in a very plain, conversational manner. He explains that he has no experience with the law courts and that he will instead speak in the manner to which he is accustomed with honesty and directness. Socrates then proceeds to interrogate Meletus, the man primarily responsible for bringing Socrates before the jury. He strongly attacks Meletus for wasting the court¡¦s time on such absurd charges. He then argues that if he corrupted the young he did so unknowingly since Socrates believes that one never deliberately acts wrongly. If Socrates neither did not corrupt the young nor did so unknowingly, then in both cases he should not be brought to trial. The other charge is the charge of impiety. This is when Socrates finds an inconsistency in Meletus¡¦ belief that Socrates is impious. If he didn¡¦t believe in any gods then it would be inconsistent to say that he believed in spiritual things, as gods are a form of a spiritual thing. He continues to argue against the charges, often asking and answering his own questions as if he were speaking in a conversation with one of his friends. He says that once a man has found his passion in life it would be wrong of him to take into account the risk of life or death that such a passion might involve.
Justice is generally thought to be part of one system; equally affecting all involved. We define justice as being fair or reasonable. The complications fall into the mix when an act of heroism occurs or morals are written or when fear becomes to great a force. These complications lead to the division of justice onto levels. In Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Plato’s Republic and Apology, both Plato and Aeschylus examine the views of justice and the morality of the justice system on two levels: in the city-state and the individual. However, Plato examines the justice system from the perfect society and Aeschylus starts at the curse on the House of Atreus and the blood spilled within the family of Agamemnon.
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.
Plato. "The Apology of Socrates." West, Thomas G. and West, Grace Starry, eds. Plato and Aristophanes: Four Texts on Socrates. Itacha, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997
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.
According to Aristotle, a virtue is a state that makes something good, and in order for something to be good, it must fulfill its function well. The proper function of a human soul is to reason well. Aristotle says that there are two parts of the soul that correspond to different types of virtues: the appetitive part of the soul involves character virtues, while the rational part involves intellectual virtues. The character virtues allow one to deliberate and find the “golden mean” in a specific situation, while the intellectual virtues allow one to contemplate and seek the truth. A virtuous person is someone who maintains an appropriate balance of these two parts of the soul, which allows them to reason well in different types of situations.
Plato, . The Trial and Death of Socrates, "The Apology". Trans. G.M.A. Grube. Third ed. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2000. 34. Print.
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.
Some of the best sources of information about Socrates' philosophical views are the early dialogues of his student Plato, who tried to provide a faithful picture of the methods and teachings of the great master. The Apology is one of the many-recorded dialogues about Socrates. It is about how Socrates was arrested and charged with corrupting the youth, believing in no god(s) (Atheism) and for being a Sophist. He attended his trial and put up a good argument. I believe that Socrates was wrongfully accused and should not have been sentenced to death. Within the duration of this document, I will be discussing the charges laid against Socrates and how he attempted to refute the charges.
In the retelling of his trial by his associate, Plato, entitled “The Apology”; Socrates claims in his defense that he only wishes to do good for the polis. I believe that Socrates was innocent of the accusations that were made against him, but he possessed contempt for the court and displayed that in his conceitedness and these actions led to his death.
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
knowledge or conform to this new knowledge. The man approaching the light is him realizing his ignorance, coming to terms with it, and being enlightened gaining a new understanding. The dazzled reaction is the amazement he experienced seeing how blinded he once was by his preconceived thoughts but everything is now much clearer; allowing him to truly see reality as it is. The final sentence is Plato rephrasing the steps the man went through reaching his current state of understanding. The man first started off only knowing about the shadows, then he was released of his restraints able to see the reflections of the men and objects in water, finally reaching the stage prior to enlightenment is the man being able to finally see the objects that have passed him in shadows his whole life.
After studying Plato’s Apology, an account of Socrates’s defense at his murder trial, I have concluded that Socrates is not guilty.