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Plato, The Apology of Socrates
The charges against Socrates, as given in Plato's Apology, are twofold. This is how Socrates himself phrases it:
And now I will try to defend myself against them: these new accusers must also have their affidavit read. What do they say? Something of this sort: - That Socrates is 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. (Plato 2009).
In other words, the first charge is that Socrates has corrupted the youth of Athens, and the second charge is that of impiety towards the official gods of Athens. Socrates in his defense begins by cross-examining his accuser, Meletus. On the first charge he asks whether Meletus thinks his corruption of young minds was intentional: when Meletus says it was, Socrates notes that Meletus has never privately said this to Socrates before the trial. Thus Socrates hopes to demonstrate that the corruption charge is of no particular interest to Meletus, since a man who permits corruption of youth but does nothing about it is essentially passively engaged in the same corruption process. Thus Socrates hopes to demonstrate that Meletus himself...
Meletus claim about Socrates' impiety is that he is "a complete atheist" (Plato 2009). Socrates notes the fundamental contradiction between this claim and the charge in the affidavit quoted above, which is that he believes in some "new divinities" of his own devising. The essential defense that Socrates has is that he is a philosopher -- the Delphic oracle has proclaimed his great wisdom, but that wisdom lies not in knowledge but in critical inquiry. Socrates then offers a noteworthy image to describe his role in Athenian society, while warning the jury of what they will lose if they put him to death:
For if you kill me you will not easily find another like me, who, if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by the God; and the state is like a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that gadfly which God has given the state and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. And as you will not easily find another like me, I would advise you to spare me. I dare say that you may feel irritated at being suddenly awakened when you are caught napping; and you may think that if…
References
Plato. Apology. (B. Jowett, Trans. 2009) Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html
They have done so ever since he made them public, and while a lot of things about society have changed, the fundamental truth of how society handles its problems, its differences, and its dissenters have not. The conclusions that Plato reached in his works have held up because they are honest and true. They also hold because human nature has not really changed very much since Plato's time (Nails, 2006).
From this we need to understand that the existence of entities, beings which superior power and knowledge is accepted. People not only accept that these being actually exist, but they obey their commands. From this one can deduce that morality is connected with power. People obey the commands of the gods because the gods are what they are. The implications are that on the one side, the gods have access
Socratic Argument In the Apology, Socrates is being placed on trial by three of his rivals for different activities that he is accused of being involved in. The most notable include: corrupting the youth of Athens and not supporting the same religious beliefs as everyone else. During the trial, his enemies are utilizing these charges to demonstrate how he knowingly engaged in these actions. They are demanding that he apologize for
Plato's Apology Discuss the main points of Plato's the Apology The Apology is based upon series of speeches that were made by Socrates in 39 BC. He was standing trial for corrupting the youth of Athens by not believing in the gods of the city. This is because he would often question various ideas in order to have a greater sense of understand and enlightenment. As a result, there were several main
A philosopher makes "logoi," discusses, and cross examines about virtue, is short of wisdom, and is aware of it. However, in as much as one is a philosopher, one desires wisdom and searches for it. In historical Greek, this notion is virtually a tautology, prompting Socrates to hold that the wise no longer philosophize. Socrates believes that philosophy is gathering knowledge; however, going by valid evidence, philosophy is the
Argument and law are merely art forms in the mind of Socrates and picking a side and arguing for it is much like doing a crossword puzzle or any other exercise in modeling thought patterns. Purpose and intent mean so much more than the act itself according to Socrates. Disagreements are merely examples of rhythms in thought patterns much like music. Debate and discourse for Socrates was practiced to achieve