...After reading Apology I feel bad for Socrates. I was disturbed because how can one person be jailed and sentenced to death because of his beliefs. One thing about Socrates is that he was a man with beliefs that he stood up for what he believed in no matter what the cost even if it costed him his life and freedom. Socrates was facing two charges. The first charge was that Socrates is an evil- doer and a curious person that searched into everything under the earth and above the heavens. Socrates was the type of man that if something was told to him he would make sure that what was being told was the truth so he went out to investigate everything, in other words searching for the truth. The second charge was that the people found him as a evil-doer and corrupter of the youth and that Socrates did not receive the same gods which whom the state received but instead he would introduce other new deities. The Athenian society felt as if everyone should believe in the same gods and anyone who did not or whomever taught that there could be something greater or even something different was considered an outcast and that they had to get rid of them in this case Socrates was this outcast. When Socrates has to present in court and to respond about his charges he is calm and plain spoken. Socrates explains to the courts that he has no experience with the court laws and he will speak the way he knows how. Socrates goes on to explain that his teachings come from the Oracle Delphi which he...
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...Socrates an Ancient Greek philosopher who played the role in ancient times for wisdom and courage. The writing this essay is going to be on is “The Apology of Socrates” by Plato, it is a speech of legal self-defense. Plato’s writing is on the trial of Socrates primarily being accused of impiety and corrupting the young, of course Socrates never actually did ether of these things. Socrates was a brilliant philosopher who could make any extraordinarily well spoken or master at their craft sound like a fool. Socrates and over powering wisdom of course caught up to him and is now why he is in this trial. Socrates simply messed with the wrong people even though he only showed them there weakness. This essay will discuss on how effective Socrates...
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...After reading Plato’s Apology there are many questions that filled my head. Whether it was what Socrates meant when explaining his defense, or what the Athenian court members had based their moral and ethical views from. More importantly, Socrates was a philosopher, and he strived to find answers, even when they were not easy to discover. This led me to Socrates’ idea, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates was a strong advocate of this statement and supported it in front of the Oracle of Delphi and in the Athenian court. I was very interested with Socrates statement, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” When I first discovered this statement the first thought that popped in my head was how serious Socrates was. There was...
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...Heath Thomas Kinkead English 1301-394 12 September 2017 Plato tells a story about a “wise” man being accused of corrupting the youth in Athens. In “The Apology,” Socrates defends himself in front of the jury while he attempts to embarrass Meletus and lessen his credibility as the prosecutor. Socrates then talks about how Athens would lose more than they would gain by exiling him, and he finishes by saying that he does not fear death for only the gods know what happens after death. Socrates uses apologia, a method of defense, to embarrass Meletus. He wants to prove to the jury that Meletus really has no affiliation with the youth of Athens, so there is no way for him to know if the youth are corrupted or not. It appears that Meletus just...
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...Summary 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 deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates' speech, however, is by no means an "apology" in our modern understanding of the word. The name of the dialogue derives from the Greek "apologia," which translates as a defense, or a speech made in defense. Thus, in The Apology, Socrates attempts to defend himself and his conduct--certainly not to apologize for it. 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. He explains that his behavior stems from a prophecy by the oracle at Delphi which claimed that he was the wisest of all men. Recognizing his ignorance in most worldly affairs, Socrates concluded that he must be wiser than other men only in that he knows that he knows nothing. In order to spread this peculiar wisdom, Socrates explains that he considered it his duty to question supposed "wise" men and to expose their false wisdom as ignorance. These activities earned him much admiration amongst the youth of Athens, but much hatred and anger from the people he embarrassed. He cites their contempt as the reason for his being put on trial. Socrates then proceeds to interrogate Meletus, the man primarily...
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...PL 109 Study Guide Plato’s Apology, pp. 1-5 1. When Socrates is on trial he initiates his defense by comparing his manner of speaking to that of his prosecutors. He discusses his force of eloquence because his accusers use this topic to say that you should not be mislead by this. Socrates goes on to agree with them by saying he does speak with the force of eloquence but only if that is a force of truth. He compares the eloquence mainly by agreeing with the prosecutors, but getting more specific with that of what he speaks and saying that he speaks only the truth in an elegant and persuasive manner. He also goes on to compare the words spoken and informs everyone that the accusers have only spoken false things about him, and everything that they will hear from his mouth will be nothing but the truth. Socrates mainly compares the eloquence to prove his point that these people accusing him are liars and that everyone should open their minds up a it believe him because he speaks truthfully. He asks his jury to...
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...In the, “Apology, we can see dialogue on how Socrates pleads in his own self-defense. Socrates is on trial for his life because he is known as a non conformist. One important fact that must be addressed is that Socrates understood what the Athenians did not. Socrates did not believe the claim of his wisdom and was willing to disprove it. In order to do that, he decided to question three different citizens on the topic they should be knowledgeable about. Socrates also questioned the Athenians while on trial to refute the allegations brought against him. In his conversations with the Athenians, Socrates questions before and during the trial were ineffective because he was still convicted of his crime. While on trial, Socrates tells of his interactions while questioning all people of knowledge. Socrates says “where wisdom is concerned, those who...
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...discussions about Socrates in Plato’s Apology, a controversial issue has been whether or not Socrates should be considered Man Thinking, a term coined by Emerson. On one hand, some argue that since Socrates was unable to convert his ideas to actions and become powerful, he cannot be described as Man Thinking. From this perspective, Socrates is not Man Thinking because he only thought, but was not dexterous with his hands, being too much like a scholar than Man Thinking. On the other hand, others argue that Socrates was Man Thinking because he stood by his ideas even upon punishment of death. According to this view, the fact that Socrates stood up for his ideas is action enough for him to be described as Man Thinking. In sum, the issue is whether...
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...In ‘The Apology’ written by Plato, Socrates is being accused of many things by Meletus. Socrates is being accused of corrupting the youth in general, corrupting the you intentionally and that Socrates is an atheist; in all of which he does not defend himself but rather manipulate what all the accusations against him are. In the middle of ‘The Apology’, Meletus accuses Socrates of “corrupting the youth by demonic teachings” but instead of defending himself, he starts to manipulate the accusations against him. When Meletus is accusing Socrates, Socrates says that it is impossible that he is the only one to be corrupting the youth. Socrates says “Like horses, very few are able to improve them while many can hurt or spoil them. The ability is rather limited, you will admit” – which in the end, Meletus does not care for the improvement of the youths of Athens....
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...that at 70 years old, Socrates was convicted to death for allegedly corrupting the youth’s minds. He was also convicted for not believing in the gods of the state and for speaking with contempt to the high ranking officials of his time (Ober “Gadfly on Trial” 2). The accounts of his trials were written by his avid and equally popular student Plato in Apology (Colaiaco 17). In Apology, he quoted: 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 (Plato, in McIntyre 20). In this statement, Socrates compares himself to a gadfly – a biting, noisy insect commonly found buzzing around and refers to the state as the horses. What Socrates meant by this is that his frequent questioning (or “biting”) is intended to wake the state up. For him, the people during that era were in an idle stage because they are just accepting the things that have been set for them by the previous generations, by the government, the rich and powerful, or by the church. Socrates does not want that. Socrates would like the people to wake up, ask questions that challenge their minds, like – Where are we from? Is there really a god? Why do we live? He wanted to bring the people to reality by taking them out of their ignorance. I think what Socrates feels is that ignorance...
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...Socrates, a famous Greek Philosopher, was formally charged at the Athenian courts for his philosophical teachings and its effect on the people of Athens. He was presented in front of hundreds of jury men and unsupportive audience to defend himself against charges that were set by Meletus, one of his prosecutors. Normally a person would plead with the jury to free himself from receiving harsh punishments, but Socrates was not among them. Despite of knowing the fact that the result of the trail would be death, Socrates presented a powerful speech and tactfully cross examined Meletus to prove to the audience and the jury that Meletus accused Socrates of an issue (the corruption of the youth) that Meletus himself was ignorant about. As Socrates says “But in fact Meletus, you have sufficiently displayed that you never yet gave any thought to the young. And you making your own lack of care plainly apparent, since you have cared nothing about the things for which you bring me here” (West, 25 c). First of all, Meletus accuses Socrates of corrupting the minds of the youth. When Socrates questioned to Meletus who is it that has a good influence on youth, Meletus replied the laws. Socrates then asked him to be more specific in terms of people, and Meletus said it were the jurymen. In response to Socrates persistent questions, Meletus mistakenly makes an absurd overstatement that the entire population of Athens has a positive influence on youth except for Socrates. Socrates...
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...2016/5/31 Arguments of The impiety of Socrates In the “Apology” written by Plato, Socrates is charged of impiety that he teaches students not to believe in the gods in whom the city believes but in other new spiritual things (Plato, Apology,25b). Socrates argues that he is not guilty of impiety and he believes in the god. Perhaps the strongest argument that Socrates gives for this claim relies on the claim that the new spiritual things he believes are also belong to the extent of god. In this paper, I will argue that this argument fails because Socrates doesn’t have enough powerful evidences to prove that the thoughts he believes are the parts of scope that Athenian believes. In “Apology”, Melutus charges that Socrates teaches his students to believe new spirituals things. Facing to Meletus’s charges, Socrates defends himself from different aspects. Firstly, Socrates raises doubts about the Meletus’s real meaning of the charge. He corrects the accusation should be he doesn’t believe in gods at all. Let’s see how he gets the conclusion. From Melutus deposition, Socrates is charged of teaching his students to believe different spiritual thinking which didn’t admitted in Authens. Socrates argues that he doesn’t understand Meletus original thoughts. Because Meletus said that the sun is stone, and the moon earth, Sacrates indicates Meletus is antitheist. What’s more, according to Socrates’s sayings, because Meletus doesn’t believe in gods, so Socrates concludes that Meletus’s original...
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...In 399 BC, a philosopher, named Socrates, is put to trial for multiple reasons. He was accused of corrupting the youth and impiety. They wanted the death penalty, but the importance of this trial were the arguments made by Socrates. One of the arguments made in The Apology that will be focused on is the corruption argument. Socrates made many arguments such as the horse trainer argument, the God argument, and also the death argument, but the argument that was most interesting was the corruption argument. The corruption argument, made by Socrates, is what set the tone and what allowed the rest of his arguments to have a place in his defense. In The Apology, by Plato, he talked about the defense that Socrates had in his trial against the...
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...Socrates was a great philosopher of the Greek world. He was quite an atypical and distinctive person. Being different from all the other philosophers of the land, Socrates was teaching his students ideas totally out of the ordinary from what the society believed was right. As a result, he displeased many people so much that they decided to get rid of him. Socrates was put to trial, accused of spoiling the youth of Athens, tried and sentenced to death. His personal defense is described in works two of his students: Xenophon and Plato. Both of them wrote papers called Apology, which is the Greek word for “defense”. In this essay I used Apology by Plato as the main resource, since it contents a more full account of the trial of Socrates and his words. Despite the fact that the philosopher attempted to defend himself and explain the reasons for saying and doing the things he did, it did not do any good for his justification. On the contrary, Socrates’ words seemed to make the jury harden their hearts and condemn him. The charges brought against the philosopher had nothing to do with true crime like we understand it today. He did not commit any physical or financial harm to anybody. Socrates insulted and angered many people more than any “legitimate” offense ever could. He said too many things that people around him did not like and could not forgive. One of the charges brought against him was corrupting the youth of Athens. Accordingly to the words of those who complained at...
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...Plato’s Apology, is by far one of the most logical yet critical thinking text that I have ever read. Plato describes Socrates, the accused atheist and corrupter of youth in ancient Athens, as a true beacon of ethics and morality. The method that Plato uses to depict Socrates on trial gives us a look back on how the trial of a man who encourages one of sound mind to ask questions even to those who are deemed wise in the eyes of others. Despite facing odds that are stacked highly against him, and this being his first time in court “For I am more than seventy years of age, and this is the first time that I have ever appeared in a court of law, and I am quite a stranger to the ways of the place; and therefore I would have you regard me as if I were really a stranger”(Plato). Socrates is able to achieve what he feels is the most imperative knowledge of morality for all present in the court to understand. When we, the readers, are first presented to Socrates we find him near the end of his trial where he is allowed to speak to the court. The sure genius of Socrates is revealed to us in his first words of dialogue. Using his brilliance of moral logic and ethical thinking he warns those present in the court of the mendacity of the accusations, “How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the speeches of my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was - such was the effect of them; and yet they have hardly spoken a word of truth.”(Plato)...
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