Apology Plato Retells What Took

Apology Plato retells what took place when Socrates gave his speech at a trial in 399 BC where he was charged with not acknowledging the gods accepted by the state, creating new deities, and corrupting the Athens youth. Although it is called the Apology, it is anything but asking forgiveness as this word presently denotes. Instead, the term comes from the Greek word apologia, which translates as defending or a speech made in defense.

Therefore, in the Apology, Socrates is actually attempting to defend himself and his conduct -- definitely not to apologize for it. Socrates was a Greek philosopher, who was alternately teased, praised and condemned for his teachings, depending on who it was speaking about him. Melatus, a poet, was Socrates' main accuser and was primarily responsible for bringing him to trial. Except for this trial, little is known about Meletus. He does not appear to be a major character of the time. The other two minor accusers were Anytus, and Lycon.

In Athens at this time, criminal proceedings could be initiated by any citizen. In this situation against Socrates, the proceedings began when Meletus sent an oral summons to Socrates in the attendance of witnesses. The trial itself took place during an approximate ten-hour period in what was called a "People's Court," which was located in the center of Athens or agora. On the jury were 500 male citizens who were at least 30 years old. They were chosen by lot. Most of them were most likely farmers rather than nobles.

The jurors sat on wooden benches apart from the large crowd of spectators -- including the 27-year-old student of Socrates named Plato. As Plato explains, one of the areas of concern was Socrates main concern about life, or what he called arete or "excellence." This was a moral excellence of soul or, in other words, virtue. It is believed that Socrates was the first philosopher to recognize the soul as the moral center of the individual, enhanced by virtue and marred by vice.

This was contrary to the earlier view of the soul, which was a morally neutral life principle. Socrates' interest in morality consisted of both the private spectrum of a human's life as well as the public, as demonstrated by his own political involvement. He resisted injustice by both the democracy and the political oligarchy. ne of the most famous doctrines associated with Socrates is that virtue is knowledge. Socrates believed that no one could be virtuous without first understanding what virtue really was.

Once someone actually gained this knowledge, then that person could not help but be virtuous, because no one does wrong voluntarily. In short, Socrates saw the elimination of ignorance as the first step that would lead people to become virtuous. As a result, he created a technique for testing knowledge by argument and questioning that became known as "the Socratic method." Basically, through an ironic mockery of words, Socrates mocks everyone present by mocking himself.

He was the wisest man, he says, because he was the only one who understood he did not know anything. No one else would admit his ignorance. In terms of corrupting the youth, how could that be? It is absurd to say that only he was the only corruptor. This implied that everyone else supported the youth. Yet, just as there were few horse trainers, so there were few in the position to actually train the youth.

Contrary to what Meletus stated, Socrates said that he was one of those trainers. Further, if Socrates voluntarily harmed the youth, then since evil leads to evil, they would harm him, and no rational person voluntarily harms himself. However, if he harmed the youth involuntarily, then he had to be educated, not punished. Likewise, he turned the words around when talking about the gods.

He said to Meletus: You say expressly that I believe in daemonic affairs, therefore in daemons; but daemons are a sort of gods, or the offspring of gods. Therefore, you cannot possibly believe that I do not believe in gods..." The irony that Plato stated in the Apology was that these leaders of Athens who said they believed in.