...Socrates, seen to be the father of Greek Philosophy, and his unjust death have influenced Western Philosophy greatly, allowing him to appear as something resembling a hero today. Socrates was put on trial in 399BC in Athens, Greece for impiety (asebeia) and for corrupting the youth. Some suppose Socrates’ death, at age 70, was politically motivated as Athens was trying to disassociate itself with those involved with the Thirty Tyrants, led by Critias who was a student of Socrates. Also, before being put on trial Socrates had aggravated many powerful politicians by exposing their ignorance, so his death may be seen as revenge. Socrates’ friend, Chaerephon, asked the omniscient Oracle of Delphi if there was any man wiser than Socrates and when the priestess replied that there wasn’t, Socrates made it his mission to prove the Oracle wrong. Socrates was puzzled as to why the Oracle had said he was the wisest man as he knew that she could not lie, but according to...
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...BCE to a stone man and a midwife, Socrates received the most basic Greek education. Because of this, Socrates was expected to follow his father’s profession, making stone sculptors, but Socrates turned away from his life as a sculptor and fought in the Potidaean War, saving the life of a distinguished General Alcibiades. After he returned from war, his friend asked The Oracle of Delphi: “Is there any man smarter than Socrates?” The Oracle replied with “none”. This was the trigger for Socrates to start his path of Philosophy, as he went through Athens questioning people about their intelligence to prove the oracle wrong. He mused that the poorer people of Athens showed more wisdom than the more educated. This teaching was popular among the youth of Athens, and Socrates found himself being followed by a dozen or more young men, hoping to learn off of Socrates. He accepted no payments for this philosophical teachings,...
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...Running Head: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCRATES 1 The Philosophy of Socrates: A Lover of Wisdom (2052 Words) THE PHILOSOPHY OF SOCRATES 2 The lessons of life that are delivered by Socrates act as a basis for Western philosophy. Plato, the writer of The Apology, significantly respects Socrates and his dialogues act as a framework for our understanding in the passages. Our only record of his life comes from his associates, as Socrates never documented his opinions. A clear expression of Socrates’ philosophy is represented in The Apology. The purpose of this paper is to establish a clear demonstration of Socrates’ philosophy using The Apology as reference, and also explain my personal view on philosophy. In the first section of this paper, the famous statement from Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living”, will be connected when explaining three principle components of his philosophy: Irony, Method and Ethos. The second section of this paper will reveal my personal view on philosophy. Rahut’s claim on philosophy being the study of “open questions” will be supported by examples and descriptions. In the case that a question cannot be accurately answered or proven with our existing knowledge, I demonstrate that it should be classified as an ‘open question’. Throughout section 17-18 of The...
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...The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living “The unexamined life is not worth living,” is a familiar saying that Socrates said at his trial for heresy, that is, encouraging his students to challenge the accepted beliefs and think of themselves instead and this led to his death sentence. Socrates could have avoided death by choosing life in prison or exile but he refused claiming that, these alternatives will prevent him from examining the world around him and see how to make the world a better place. He argued that with the absence of his examined life will, there was no value of living. Therefore, Socrates claimed that for a human being to live a worthy life, everyone should question, examine and re-examine the values of their lives daily (Kamtekar, 154). This paper explores the meaning and the significance of the Socrates claim that “the unexamined life is not worth living” focusing on the Apology and Euthyphro. The words, ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’ by Socrates comes from Plato’s Apology when Socrates is sentenced to death after being accused of corrupting the youth and impiety (Ahbel-Rappe & Rachana, 229). Patterson posits that apology is one historical account of Socrates’ defense during his trial (Patterson, 16), and these words appear at the end of the Apology when Socrates is going through possible punishments for charges against him. Socrates utters these words when the jury has already found him guilty and has to decide on what kind of punishment to impose...
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...the like have become faster, easier, and more manageable than centuries ago. With this fact, people thanked and honored these certain men and women for their contributions. They dubbed these men and women the title ‘genius.’ Examples of these geniuses are Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell, Wolfgang Mozart, William Shakespeare, and Albert Einstein. A man of experience and wisdom, though, would think otherwise. He has a different ‘genius’ in mind -- the type who values not the physical things, but the things that really matter. What are those “things,” and who might that ‘genius’ be? Socrates is the name, and according to him: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” He went around Athens and persuaded others to look and examine themselves while they still have the time; to not be content with who they already are but to keep finding ways to improve the self and enrich the soul. Socrates used the dialectic method (now known as the Socratic method) – a way of investigating problems through dialogue discussion wherein a problem is broken down into series of questions and the answers to those questions would gradually reveal the answer to the problem – to help them examine their respective beliefs and reshape those ideas if found to be in error. Through this method, he would be able to help them help themselves. This Socratic method is one of his legacies to humanity, for up until now it is still being used. Many teachers and professors employ...
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...Socrates Paper The goal of this paper is to discern and construct the world views of Socrates through the various readings, lectures and videos that we have seen in class. Some of these sources include: Socrates by G. Rudebusch; excerpts from The Last Days of Socrates by Plato; and The Allegory of a Cave. Of the nine world views covered in class, I will delve into my interpretation of four of them as seen through the various sources that we have been exposed to in class. These four world views will include Death, Condition, Solution and Morality. Finally, I will use my understanding of the world *views assessment to critique Socrates’ view of morality. Death The first and most obvious worldview that I wanted to cover is Socrates’ view of death. That is, what really happens to us when we die? This was such an evident topic to me because throughout a majority of our readings, Socrates was being faced with death, so what better time to discuss one’s thoughts for what is to come in the afterlife than when they are staring death in the face. Socrates first brings to light his view of death in the Apology when he states, “Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from this place to another.” (Apology 40c). At this point, Socrates does not give any definitive answer as to whether death is annihilation or the migration of the soul; rather, he argues that...
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...This paper is to show how Socrates would answer four of the nine fundamental questions of worldview based off readings and lectures of Socrates. The Last Days of Socrates translated by Hugh Tredennick is used to give a better understanding of why Socrates would answer these questions this way. The four questions answered in this paper are morality, condition, knowledge, and happiness. These four questions and the answers he would give will give a basic understanding of Socrates’s worldview and how he sees the world through his eyes. Morality Socrates had high moral principles and he held others to those principles as well. Morality asks the question of “Who is the ideal person?” Socrates may not have an ideal person he could think of that...
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...Ben Blanks, Lynchburg College (Editor’s note: This essay by Ben Blanks is the winner of the North Award for the best paper in the 2012 Agora. Ben presented an earlier version of this paper at the ACTC Student Conference at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, in March, 2011.) When reading the Apology and the Crito of Plato, one inevitably comes upon a seeming fundamental contradiction between the two dialogues. The Apology presents readers with a defiant Socrates who declares in his trial that, if acquitted on the condition that he never philosophize again, he would continue to practice philosophy in spite of the jury’s order to the contrary: . . . if you said to me in this regard: “Socrates, we do not believe Anytus now; we acquit you, but only on condition that you spend no more time on this investigation and do not practice philosophy, and if you are caught doing so you will die”; if, as I say, you were to acquit me on those terms, I would say to you: “Men of Athens, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy . . . (29c-d).1 The passage from the Apology seems to present a defiant argument for civil disobedience in the face of injustice. In the Crito, however, when given a chance to escape prison and his upcoming execution, Socrates reasons that such an action would be unjust because it would defy the laws 1Plato, Apology. Trans. G. M. A. Grabe (Indianapolis:...
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...NO THANKSGET THE APP Apology rough draft Kwong 2 Emily Kwong Mrs. McGinity Honors English Period 3 6 September 2016 Socrates Against the World Socrates’ words during his trial were called the “Apology” which was put to paper by his student, Plato. In his discussion with the majority of the Athenian men, Socrates faces unjust judgement for speaking up for his different beliefs. Unintentionally attacking the natural philosophy, Socrates is put to trial for declaring his mind’s thoughts. Knowing that “God only is wise” (75), fuels the hatred of those who “thought himself wise, but was not really wise” (57). Socrates enlightens others that “wisdom is in truth worth nothing” (78) for the only one that has the wisdom to be...
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...This paper will argue that during “The trial and Death of Socrates”, Socrates could have given better arguments for his defense. First it will outline the prejudices or accusations Socrates has to face during his trial. It will then show how Socrates acted as tough he wanted to lose the case and finally it will conclude explaining the arguments Socrates could have given in order to be acquitted. During the first speech (18a-19b) Socrates has to overcome two different types of prejudices: the old prejudice against Socrates set by the plays of Aristophanes and the new prejudices that included impiety charged by Meletus as well as the corruption of the youth. In fact more than once is Socrates confused for someone else. Aristophanes is responsible for latter but it is reconstructed by Meletus as including both impiety and corruption and Socrates is portrayed as a corrupt teacher .the first charge of impiety also originates with Aristophanes but Meletus confuses Socrates with the atheistic Anaxagoras when he describes Socrates as seeking to study the heavens (18a) the second charge of corruption is also in Aristophanes' Clouds but confuses Socrates with Protagoras. This led to confusion (18e) of Socrates with other sophists like Gorgias, Prodicus, and Hippias. The new prejudice against Socrates really is because of the Socratic paradox (20c-21a): “he knows nothing and only in this he claims to be wise “ this paradox aroused hatred against him (21b, 23ab), even though he...
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...rather similar on paper, both are inherently different. The Crito takes a more literal approach while the letter from Birmingham jail takes a more figurative stance. The Crito is a dialogue that takes place in Socrates’ prison cell as he awaits his execution. Socrates was wrongfully accused for “failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges” and “introducing new deities”. The dialogue begins as Crito, one of socrates’ good friends, enters the jail cell to let Socrates know that he has devised a plan to smuggle him out of prison. Crito tries to reason in saying that Socrates’s death will reflect poorly amongst his friends and peers image, and that Socrates shouldn’t worry about the risk or financial burden that is put on to those who are helping him. Crito would then...
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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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...One of the most well known philosophers even to this day is Socrates. Known as the wisest of the philosophers, Socrates made it a living to contradict or play “devil’s advocate” to anyone who claimed to have wisdom. Eventually, Socrates was sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning for “corrupting the youth.” Socrates then comes back with a famous line, “To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know.” However, before Socrates was put to death, a young man by the name of Crito gave him the chance to escape and save himself. But Socrates refused to leave. In this paper I will be examining Socrates’s argument of why it would be unjust for him to leave Athens and escape...
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...the Crito, Socrates makes some surprisingly strong claims about the moral authority of the state, which might even seem to be inconsistent both with another fundamental claim he makes in the Crito and with certain claims he makes in the Apology. I shall argue that although these claims seem to be in some tension with each other, the crucial claims about the authority of the state in the Crito can plausibly be interpreted in such a way as to remove any real inconsistency with the other claims. The first, rather striking claim about the moral authority of the state occurs at 51b of the Crito. Socrates argues that, because of the state's role as a provider of security, education, and various important social institutions (such as marriage), the citizens of the state are its "offspring and servants"; and from this he concludes that citizens are subordinate to the state and its laws to such an extent that if a citizen ever disagrees with the state's laws or orders, he "must either persuade it or obey its orders," even if the latter amounts to suffering death. The implication for his own case is clear: Socrates had tried to persuade the court of his innocence and of the injustice of his execution (as detailed in the Apology), but he had failed; therefore, he argues, he must now obey the court and accept his death sentence--even though he still thinks that he is in the right on this matter. The second, closely related claim, comes only a few paragraphs later, in 51e and 52. Socrates there...
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...bidirectional theory that makes philosophy so profoundly intellectual. It becomes reason as to why trying to find out what philosophy actually is inevitably becomes a way of not only studying philosophy but doing philosophy. By textbook definition, philosophy is the attempt to use reason and logic to answer fundamental questions about knowledge, life, morality and human nature. This definition represents a vexing philosophical issue, how can we attempt to answer these questions in a definite manner? Well, in retrospect Philosophy pursues questions rather than answers. Plato uses dialogue to aide clarity and understanding to those ideas and questions that fall outside of the “scientific domain”. After reading Plato’s dialogues, one can note that, Socrates never comes to any definite conclusion to any of the questions he poses. For example, in the Euthyphro, we are never fully able to determine a definition of piety and justice, but we do become more knowledgeable of the essence of piety and justice. Essence, being a form or characteristic that makes something what it is, while definition sets limits and boundaries. Essence and its entities lead us into another of the reoccurring benefits that Plato emphasizes throughout his dialogues. Plato’s reasoning for the demonstration of...
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