...acquaintances, and native Aristocracies. The subject of piety comes into question during the exclusive interaction that transpires between Socrates and Euthyphro during trial procession in King Archon’s Court. The beginning stages of dialogue become initiated as Socrates addresses Euthyphro to explain his interpretation of piety, where Euthyphro responds by alleging that one component of this idea involves the impeachment of sinners, regardless of acknowledging them as your father, mother, or mere acquaintance. Socrates sought to object Euthyphro’s initial statement, by deeming his assertions as insufficient for he merely identified one facet as an example of a pious act, rather than describing its all-encompassing ideals. Euthyphro then attempts to retract his previous statement by counter arguing that piety encompasses all things that are dear to the gods. Socrates sustains opposition to Euthyphro’s response, in that what the gods consider to be sacred or beloved does not reflect similar perceptive opinion from others. Inadequacies presented throughout Euthyphro’s assertions suggest that the definition Socrates is requiring shall postulate a common basis for agreement. As Socrates grants Euthyphro a third opportunity to admit his understanding of piety, he goes on to state that piety is a reflection of what the gods love and adore. Socrates appears to dispute this claim, by contending that sentiments of this nature are highly controversial and can never hold absolute justification...
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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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...Critical Analysis of The Apology of Socrates by Plato Socrates was an orator and philosopher whose primary interests were logic, ethics and epistemology. In Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Plato recounts the speech that Socrates gave shortly before his death, during the trial in 399 BC in which he was charged with "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, also being a busybody and intervene gods business". The name of the work itself is not mean what it is appeared; here, Socrates is not apologizing, but merely speaking in defense of his beliefs and actions – the word apology is used in the context of its original meaning. During this apology, Socrates attempts to explain himself and the decisions that led to his action, educating his audience in the philosophical questions he chooses to pose. Socrates does not try to avoid death in the trial; instead, his goal is to enlighten the public for the last time before his own passing. Socrates was always fascinated with the solving of questions, both big and small; his approach was to use the Socratic method of inquiry, wherein he would break the problem down into several questions, and then systematically find the answers to each question in order to find the larger answer. It was a methodical and practical approach to show his ultimate quest for seeking the true knowledge. He says, "His wisdom is truly worthless"; this is indicative of his unending search for more and more knowledge (Apology...
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...THESIS STATEMENT Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and sentenced to die for his beliefs. He accepted this punishment because he truly thought what he believed was right. PURPOSE STATEMENT By conducting research and examining various sources, The trail of Socrates proved to be an important part in history, impacting the development of Western Philosophy and allowing the beliefs of Socrates to live on to this day. INTRODUCTION “The death of Socrates has had a huge and almost continuous impact on western culture” (Wilson 1). Socrates life, trial, and death are all important parts of history. Socrates was a philosopher in Athens who believed in using reason to explain different aspects of life. During his lifetime, he not only tried to help develop his own mind and understanding of life, but also those around him. He often tried to teach the adolescence and get them to use their minds. Socrates enjoyed teaching children because their minds were still open and they were willing to learn. However, his views varied from most of other people around him. He was put on trial because others did not care for his methods. He was eventually executed. Socrates had the courage to be different and marked the beginning of Western Philosophy. His trial was one of the first of its kind and it is the first recorded trial in which someone was sentenced to death as a result of their beliefs. “Plato tells us that Socrates compared himself to a gadfly, whose stings...
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...Death Over Unrighteousness In Plato’s Apology, Plato documents what occurs during Socrates’ trial, where a philosopher named Socrates was accused for being an evil-doer by simply questioning his surroundings. He defends himself in order to prove that he is innocent. But Socrates’ accusers will not accept any reason other than the one that they provided. Rather than saying that he is wrong, Socrates continues to argue for his righteousness, but then accepts that his accusers will always remain unrighteous. Socrates believes that it is better to die than to live an unrighteousness life. Rather than spending the rest of his life in a prison, Socrates does not see an issue with death, as for all he knows, it can be as equally good...
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...Apology, Socrates, an Athenian philosopher, is accused of not believing in the gods by corrupting the youth with his philosophical beliefs. Socrates uses the forces of logos and ethos to build the trust of his audience over his accusers, Meletus and Anytus, who have created prejudices against him in trial. Socrates uses a grand mixture of socratic irony and rhetorical devices to make his claim and prove his point in efforts to hopefully help find his innocence. However, in doing so, he reveals to the audience what kind of a person he is: a haughty, gadfly kind of man with an undesirable temperament. Although Socrates is indeed arrogant and comes off as egotistical, he is in fact quite admirable. “Let the judge decide justly and...
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...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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...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) By not only shooting down the lies of his accusers, Socrates acknowledges that they are...
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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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...The Apology The apology to me does not really feel like an apology. While Socrates addresses the audience of his accusers, he does not sound apologetic. To me, he actually sounds as though he has a higher than thou view of himself based on the oration of an oracle. While this oracle says that, he is the wisest man in all of Athens he goes around trying to disprove it, in the process inflating his ego. At this point, he starts to remind me of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. – I know I am smarter than you are, and I have no qualms about telling you because your stupid, we both know it and you just proved it -- Although he does claim that it was a Gods will that he do it. As stated before, an oracle said that he was the most intelligent man in the world. I understand why the people of Athens are angry and putting him on trial. I would not mind popping someone in face if they constantly walked around telling everyone they are stupid. I initially felt sorry for Socrates being out on trial, that he was wronged but it is not right, even currently to profess your intelligence in such a way that you offend and alienate everyone around you. In addition, this disproves the argument that he was an atheist. Meletus, one of his accusers, alternates in the trial between accusing him of being an atheist and accusing him of believing in new Gods rather than the Gods of the state. He claims that Socrates did not believe in the Gods, which could not be validated; if one is walking around...
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...“Socrates, the Man of Many Colors” The Last Days of Socrates contains a series of dialogues with Socrates in the run- up to his trial, where he is sentenced to death. Plato, the author, was inspired by Socrates. Plato was a student of his and went on to teach many famous people such as Aristotle, who wrote treatises on everything from poetry to biology, and even Alexander the Great. Plato was born into a wealthy family around the last days of the Athenian Empire (427-347 B.C.). Plato was also an advisor to the king of Syracuse. Plato had great influence throughout the history of philosophy, often being called the father of Western philosophy. He wrote over twenty philosophical dialogues and thirteen letters ( oregonstate.edu/…/Philosophers/Plato/). Most of what we know about the life of Socrates was written down by Plato. This book of Plato’s, The Last Days of Socrates, includes four works or dialogues. The first three are written very close in time to one another. The last was written years later. All have been translated into modern English from ancient Greek. All works relate to Socrates’ trial and subsequent death. The One major theme of the dialogues is justice. Justice has a direct effect upon Socrates’ behavior. He insists to Crito in the third dialog that his beliefs pertaining to what “just” means is the very reason why he has accepted the sentence he is given. This very question, “What is just?” is just the kind of thing that got him into trouble in...
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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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...Writing Prompt : Socrates and “True Knowledge” With the notion of philosophy and the studying of philosophy it is well known that it is powerful and dangerous. Philosophy has many reasons for its importance such as how to understand your ideas, the origin of your ideas, how to contrast arguments. Philosophy can also help you defend arguments, read it, build your position and understand it. Philosophy is used for the betterment of the world, gender, race, civilization, town, state, country, etc. But in order to practice philosophy you need parrhesia and you need philosophy to practice parrhesia, they come hand in hand with each other. There have been many imperative philosophers that gave us the knowledge and foundation for our study of philosophy today, such as Plato, Aristotle, and among them Socrates. Socrates was an interesting philosopher and his main focus before his death was to find true knowledge and he believed that there was only certain acts of statements that qualified as such. In Socrates work, parrhesia worked as a big role in his work as parrhesia is also known as fearless speech. This form is merged with the courage to face danger in circumstances of life or death. Parrhesia consists of the individual to speak the truth courageously in spite of danger and in its extreme form in life or death. It creates the chance to take the form of criticism to another or oneself, but always in a situation where the speaker is in a position of inferiority. Socrates fits the character...
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...Socrates was one of the greatest Greek philosophers. His work was not to propose any specific knowledge or policy: it was to show how argument, debate, and discussion could help men to understand difficult issues. Most of the issues he dealt with were only political on the surface. Underneath, they were moral questions about how life should be lived. Such is the influence of Socrates that philosophers before him are called the Presocratic philosophers. Socrates made enemies, three of whom brought charges against him. Socrates was tried for his life in 399 BC, found guilty, and put to death by drinking hemlock. The story of his trial and death is the subject of a tract by Plato which is called the Apologia. Most of what we know about Socrates comes from the works of Plato, who was his pupil. Socrates lived in the Greek city of Athens. His method of teaching was to have a dialogue with individual students. They would propose some point of view, and Socrates would question them, asking what they meant. He would pretend "I don't know anything; I'm just trying to understand what it is you are saying", or words to that effect. This is now called the Socratic method of teaching. Socrates is sometimes called the "father of Western philosophy". This is because in the discussions he uncovered some of the most basic questions in philosophy, questions which are still discussed today. Also some of the people he taught were important and successful, like Plato and Alcibiades. Socrates...
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...Socrates and Motives: Why Choose Death? When Socrates stood trial he held that his work and questions were worth giving his life for. He wasn’t willing to give in to the accusers and say what he was doing was wrong because to him that would be a renouncement of what he believed was right. Nathanael “Nate” Saint, a pilot during WWII, served as a missionary in Ecuador during the 1950s; he and four of his friends were killed by the tribe they were attempting to reach when they refused to shoot the men that attacked them. They believed reaching those people and spreading their faith was worth dying for. Socrates and Saint both died because they couldn’t imagine living their lives if they weren’t living them for the purpose they felt called to. During his trial, Socrates compared his willingness to go to extremes for his cause to the ultimate hero Achilles. The hero was warned he would soon die after killing Hector, yet he went through with it; Socrates was warned he would be killed if he didn’t stop or accept a banishment but continued to defy his accusers. Both knew at some point when facing their challenges that they would give their lives because they followed the path they chose, but...
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