The Unjust Speech Analysis

According to the Homeric traditions the philosophical definition of politics was the identification, maintenance, and transformation of community core values from the old to the young generation. Over time civilizations have developed a political system in order to achieve organization, equality, justice, and stability within a community. A political community helps manage laws, distributes power, and plays a crucial role in the development of a virtuous life in citizenry; which is imperative in the term of it’s existence. Contrary to politics, philosophy teaches us to become rationalized beings and to think for ourselves rather than imitating or listening to other people. It also allows us to reason and use logic to make sense of things for

ourselves. Philosophy requires us to attain an abundance of knowledge so that we can utilize it to better ourselves as human beings and our cities. While the responsibility of politics is to uphold and continue on the traditions, philosophy’s main focus is to look at the traditions and think if they are helpful to us, and will they help in governing the city.
Many people have argued if the great philosopher Socrates was for or against nature and the manner in which Aristophanes represents him in Clouds, one can conclude that he was against it. However, if analyzed carefully it should be noted that there are examples in the text that state otherwise. At the commencement of the text, Aristophanes says that Socrates emerged in a balloon basket hanging mid-air and states, “I tread on air and contemplate the sun…I would never discover the matters aloft correctly except by suspending mind and subtle thought and mixing them with their like, the air. If I considered the things above from below on the ground, I would never consider them…”(Aristophanes 124). In other words he explains to Strepsiades that by walking on air he was speculating the sun and this allows him to suspend judgement and keep an open mind to new ideas. It is evident that he is interested in nature because by following it he wants to discover more about it. By suspending his judgment, Socrates adheres to the aspect of the nature of science and reason. While Aristophanes mainly focuses on human nature which is the condition and health of a person, he criticizes Socrates based on the belief that the appearance and condition of Socrates’ students at the thinkery makes him against nature and life. These individuals are destroying themselves physically, which is not considered natural. It is quite normative for Aristophanes to think this way because Athenians held dear to one thing, which was ones physical health and appearance. This is why many Athenian/Greek statues were beautiful in appearance and physically built strong. This belief of the Athenians disregarded the fact that Socrates was interested in discovering more about nature and they allowed the deception of physical health/appearance of a human being cloud their judgment about him. Another example that displays Socrates’ wisdom of nature is when he helps a young man named Euthyphro understand what “piety” really is. By using irony he stops Euthyphro from trialing his father for a questionable murder, “Socrates: Speak, then, what do you say the pious is, and what the impious… Now, however, try to say more plainly what I was asking you just now. For you did not teach me sufficiently earlier, comrade, when I asked what ever pious is. Instead, you told me that what you are now doing, proceeding against your father for murder, happens to be pious”(Plato 46 & 48). He questions Euthyphro by claiming to be his student in order for him to define piety for himself. This constant questioning was not so Socrates could understand piety, but it was done to make Euthyphro realize the great dishonor and injustice he was committing by trialing his own father without concrete justification. For Socrates to want to help the younger generation in the enhancement of knowledge, reason, and human capacity, his beliefs then are not against nature, instead he is the one nurturing it. He is cultivating the young and teaching them to reason, the most imperative aspect of nature, so that no harm can come to the society and the city; therefor according to Plato, Socrates is not going against nature.
The unjust speech is a manipulative form of speech where one is able to win an argument by pointing out all the fallacies and dispute every claim.

It is defined as unjust due to it’s aim to contradict every argument and to make up things on the spot. The unjust speech is represented as the young generation which is considered to be arrogant and untraditional and the “just” speech has a conservative and traditional view. Socrates is accused of teaching the younger generation the unjust speech and the dilemma lies within the fear that children will use it against their elders and will overthrow traditions. In Aristophanes Clouds, Strepsiades wants his son to learn the unjust speech in order to rid himself of debtors and to find a way to bend the law and have some personal gain. However, everything backfires when Pheidippides slaps his father and claims that his actions are just and he can prove it, “Strep: Do you beat your father? Pheid: Yes, and I will make it clearly apparent, by Zeus, that I was beating you with justice..”(Aristophanes 169). Aristophanes’ accusations about Socrates is proven true with this example of the young using the unjust speech to cause harm. However his reasoning behind Socrates’ speech does not justify that his speech is “unjust” due to the fact that if an argument can be contradicted or questioned it is not a strong argument/claim. It is considered unjust based upon how one utilizes it; while Pheidippides uses the unjust speech for arrogance Socrates uses this form of speech to prove that he is innocent. In Plato’s Apology, Meletus charges Socrates for teaching and corrupting people and for creating new Gods, however he states that Socrates does not believe in God, in turn contradicting himself, Socrates states, “Then before these very Gods, Meletus, about whom our speech now is, speak to me and to these men still more plainly. For I am not able to understand whether you are saying that I teach them to believe that there are Gods of some

sort—and so I myself do believe that there are Gods and I am not completely atheistic…Meletus: This is what I say, that you do not believe in Gods at all”(Plato 76). Socrates’ questioning is justifiable as Meletus is ignorant, doesn't have enough evidence, and is oblivious to his argument; he accuses Socrates of one thing and then contradicts himself, Socrates doesn't to use the “unjust” speech in order to defend himself, he just uses the correct way to reason. Also the people of Athens know that he is innocent, but they are so convinced that he is corrupt and immoral because his ways are not considered “traditional” and they aren’t familiar with it, that they overlook an innocent man’s reason and plea, which we as readers understand is immensely unjust.
The question of whether Socrates invents new Gods is many times confused with him being an atheist. As mentioned earlier Meletus himself states that Socrates invents new Gods then contradicts himself. Similarly Aristophanes also attacks him for inventing new Gods, his claim, again is similar to Meletus’ as he too confuses atheism with the creation of new Gods. While explaining where rain comes from Socrates introduces the belief in science rather than the Gods causing the rain, he states , “…Clouds, of course! I'll prove it so by arguments irrefutable. Tell me, have you ever seen it raining when there were no clouds? Why can't Zeus produce a rainstorm while the clouds are out of town?”(Aristophanes 369). Socrates tries to explain that science is the cause of the weather and not God, but his reasoning for science is taken as him creating new Gods. Since the Athenians had a strong belief in God, especially in the Olympian Gods, his valid explanation for weather is comprehended incorrectly. He does not invent new Gods, rather denies of one and explains the reasoning for why Gods are not in charge of doing anything and celestial bodies are. As stated before it is an untraditional and unfamiliar idea that Aristophanes and the people of Athens felt threatened by. Contrary to the Clouds, in Crito, Socrates is depicted as someone who has some faith in a God because he says, “Then let it be, Crito, and let us act accordingly, because that is the direction in which God is guiding us”(Plato 106). It seems as though Socrates understands that his friend Crito does not comprehend his way of reasoning, so he tries to convince him to let him be, in a manner that is simpler for Crito to grasp. The fact that Crito comes to his rescue instantly makes Socrates realize that he never really understood him or his way of thinking. Therefore Socrates reasons with his friend in a manner that goes against his beliefs but is greatly helpful in making Crito understand that it would be immoral for him to escape with him. He uses his reasoning for the last time with his best friend, which to the reader might seem like he is going against his belief, but in actuality he is not.
Socrates does not corrupt the youth, rather he teaches them to think and reason. How the youth uses it and applies it to their lives is on them, not Socrates. He aims to enhance their intellect and human capacity of reasoning. It is evident that philosophy and reasoning comes naturally to humans, knowing that, Socrates hoped to broaden the younger generation’s way of thinking and understanding. It became imperative for him to cultivate the young so that no harm could come to them and their city if they understood reason and it’s ethics. His wisdom of reason is misunderstood by Athenians as they are blinded by following traditions and oblivious to the idea of new knowledge. Old Homeric traditions and traditions in general, for that matter, can be harmful for a society as they sometimes no longer apply in situations, which is what Socrates tries so very hard for the people of Athens to understand.