Create a new account

It's simple, and free.

The Judgment of Socrates

The purpose of this research is to examine the view that Socrates is guilty in his mission and worthy of pursuit, with reference to the Apology. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context for judgment of Socrates and principal line of argument emerging in the Apology and then to discuss how and under what circumstances it can be argued that Athens is justified in condemning him.

The context for the Apology is the anticipation of Socrates's punishment owing to accusations that he "corrupts the youth . . . does not believe in the gods of the State, and has other new divinities of his own" (Apology 12). Socrates understands that the accusation is a ruse on the part of persons who wish to silence him on account of his social strategy, which is to ask questions of the supposedly wise in order to achieve "such wisdom as is attainable by man" (Apology 8). He draws answers out of others without giving them the answers, yet by exposing the logical problems with their answers he points toward truth, clarity, and understanding. He explains that he sought out politicians, poets, and artisans, who thought that because they were good at their particular profession "they also knew all sorts of high matters, and this defect in them overshadowed their wisdom" (Apology 10).

Socrates's accusers--representing poets, politicians, artisans, and rhetoricians--deliberately reformulate and mischaracterize his conclusion that after consulting with the supposedly wise he was better off as he was, lacking wisdom and knowing it, instead of lacking wisdom yet declaring himself wise (Apology 10-11). Accordingly, Socrates is declared "an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others" (Apology 7).

If Socrates will stop doing all these things, then his accusers will not drop the accusation. What his d...

Page 1 of 7 Next >

More on The Judgment of Socrates...

Loading...
APA     MLA     Chicago
The Judgment of Socrates. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:12, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1711951.html