An Ethical Theory of the Apology

The pragmatist's answer to the dilemma posed by the various penalties associated with the charges against Socrates might be to test the limits of the less severe penalty by weathering the storm of controversy, waiting out the decline of reputation that Socrates predicts will befall his accusers, and then returning to a position of honor in the community, completely vindicatedeven sought afteras counselor of state or, as he might prefer, as teacher of the young. In other words, consider the poisonous environment of the trial as a temporary condition, and try to determine the real reasons that Socrates's accusers, particularly Meletus, have brought charges against him. Socrates does try to draw Meletus out in the course of his statement, but the subtext of their exchange suggests that the motives and accusations of the accusers, hypocritical, contradictory, and specious as they are, have a complex psychological and emotional content. To be sure, as Socrates says,

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at the limits of his ethic of moral courage can be explained. It is at this point, however, that the second aspect of Socrates's ethic emerges. The preservation of the fundamental moral sense has an even more striking ethical implication than one of geography and practicality. How shall the "reality" of a moral psychology remain in existence as an abstraction unless one who has such a moral sense is willing to die on behalf of its life? The death of Socrates concretizes rather than compromises a moral idea and so in the recollection of the civilization outlives challenges and challengers to it. This is the background of Socrates's claim that the unexamined life is not worth living. The harm that would come to a censored or exiled Socrates would arise from the hardship of being prevented from teaching on one hand, or of being obliged to break (as he doubtless would) the terms of the sentence on the other. The resentment and ill will that might fester and grow within Socrates would have the potential of breaking his integrity. These, and not the physical hardships of exile or penury, or even the undoubted threat of future jury trials if the sentence is mitigated, are the troubles to which he alludes: You too much be
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Approximate Word count = 1792
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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