Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The defence of socrates
The defence of socrates
Socrates argument in trial
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The defence of socrates
At the age of seventy, the philosopher Socrates was confronted with accusations, then charged and put on trial before an Athenian jury containing 500 people, and was later sentenced to an unpleasant death after a convicted verdict. During the trial, Socrates had two different sets of accusers: the early accusers, and the immediate accusers. Through various years, the earlier accusers, which were the people of Athens, charged Socrates with deception and bias views. The immediate accusers, which were Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon, charged him with the reason of corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods that the city believed in. Yet Socrates was only worrisome with his earlier accusers than his immediate ones, because they have been slandering towards him throughout the prior years, putting preconception toward many of the jurymen since he was in his youth: “I have been accused before you by many people for a long time now, for many years in fact, by …show more content…
His assumptions are just sheer thoughts that contain no authentic result. So why was he guilty for just trying to understand? The approach Socrates character and tone set out during the trial, presumably irritated the jury which consisted of 500 people, vexing them to make him blameworthy. In that sense, his arguments were successful in trying to get out his message, but unsuccessful in getting the reaction he hoped for. In conclusion, Socrates defended himself reasonably and knowledgably of all charges that were against him. But his demeanor, actions, and tone against the 500 jurors motivated them to dish out a guilty verdict and denounce him to an unpleasant death. However, to base the verdict on the actions, demeanor and tone of Socrates is most definitely inequitable. Socrates carried out a strong defense argument which held no deceit, which makes the verdict of these 500 jurors unjust, because he died for the wrong
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
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.
Socrates was not guilty as charged; he had done nothing wrong, as seen in the Apology. Not even a priest could tell Socrates what he had done wrong religiously, Euthyphro wasn’t even able to give Socrates a precise definition of piety. It is then questioned by Crito why Socrates would remain to face a penalty for a crime he did not commit. In the Crito, it is explained why, although innocent, Socrates must accept the penalties his peers have set upon him. It is his peers that will interpret and enforce the laws, not the law which will enforce it. Even if the enforcers don’t deserve attention and respect because they have no real knowledge to the situation, Socrates had put himself under their judgment by going to the trial. Therefore, Socrates must respect the decisions made by the masses because the decisions are made to represent the laws, which demand each citizen’s respect.
Socrates starts by speaking of his first accusers. He speaks of the men that they talked to about his impiety and says that those that they persuaded in that Socrates is impious, that they themselves do not believe in gods (18c2). He tells the court of how long they have been accusing him of impiety. He states that they spoke to others when they were at an impressionable age (18c5). These two reasons alone should have been good enough to refute the first accusers of how they were wrong about him but Socrates went on. He leaves the first accusers alone because since they accused him a long time ago it was not relevant in the current case and began to refute the second accusers. Socrates vindicates his innocence by stating that the many have heard what he has taught in public and that many of those that he taught were present in the court that day.
First he decides to address whether the jury was in fact unjust in their judgment. According to what they had concluded before the argument, Socrates and Crito both agree that one can willingly do no harm or commit unjust acts knowingly, and thus one can never do wrong in return, since then you would be knowingly committing harm, thus committing an unjust act. “One should never do wrong in return, nor do any man harm, no matter what he may have done to you.” (Plato, Crito 49c) Even if they determined the ruling to be unjust against his earlier claim, Socrates thinks that then the law would respond that he agreed to accept the verdict of the jury, and thus anything else would be contrary to his word, and thus unjust. Thus, since this holds to be true, they must conclude whether it harms other people if Socrates leaves, or will it do
The trial of Socrates and the trial of Jesus are related due to the fact that there is little real evidence in either trial. Socrates is accused by Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon for being an evil-doer who corrupts young people and does not believe in G-d (Plato, Apology 563). In spite of how serious these charges sound, Socrates explains that these men hold grudges against him and are only antagonizing him in order to seek revenge. Elaborating on this point, Socrates states, “Meletus…has a quarrel with me on behalf of the poets; Anytus, on behalf of the craftsmen and politicians; Lycon, on behalf of the rhetoricians…Hence has arisen the prejudice against me” (Plato, Apology 563). It is clear from this statement that Socrates has offended these people and that they do not view him in a positive light. It is also true that the witnesses selected t...
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.
Why was Socrates put on trial? Clearly, from Plato’s Apology, there were two misdeeds charged upon him: impiety and corrupting the youth. But was the charge really valid and convincing? Absolutely ...
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 argues that his older accusers have had time to persuade the younger accusers because they have been filling their heads with lies about Socrates since they were children and now that they are adults they have the lies engrained in their heads. These accusers started spreading
conducted in order to determine whether or not Socrates was guilty of the charges against him. Those
When reading what Socrates had to say on trial, he had specific points that made sense as to what he was trying to teach to the civilians of Athens. First off, he made it clear to the people that he was not as wise as people thought he was, and admitted that he knew nothing. With people thinking highly of him, it made Socrates seem superior to them. His main goal was to help improve society and his methods helped established that. He wanted people to believe that they are not as wise as they think they are and by proving them wrong, it makes one look
Socrates was a very wise man but hated by many due to this. His arrogance resulted in him being abhorred by many. A man named Chaerephon had asked the oracle of Delphi whether there was anyone wiser than Socrates. The answer was no and this surprised Socrates. He decided to go find out for himself if he was the wisest by going around and testing the wisdom of the most revered men in society. He approached a politician and it was revealed he was not very wise and Socrates pointed this out to him to his dismay. The man became angered and went around to see if the oracle was telling the truth, which of course it was. This started the prejudice against Socrates throughout the whole society. I believe this is why he was found guilty. A portion of the society already had a negative view on socrates. This would obviously not help his
Socrates was accused of many things in the Athens market. Socrates was accused of being a man who makes the worse argument into the stronger argument. A man who knows about the heavens and earth and therefore any one who believe this must not believe in the gods. Socrates was accused of being an atheist. Most of the people that followed him around his quest were inquisitive. Where as most adults would walk by Socrates with his “annoying question” the youth stopped to see what he had to say. The youth became his followers when he went out to ask questions that undermined society. Therefore, Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth. I do not believe that Socrates was guilty. For the fact that he was not responsible for the way, other people used what he said.