Charges against socrates. The Apology of Socrates // Digital Essays // God and the Good Life // University of Notre Dame 2019-01-10
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What Was the Charge Against Socrates?
Socrates admits that these accusations are even more forcible than the formal charges since they make for a prejudiced jury. Even so, after allowing for these limitations, we must recognize that Plato's understanding of Socrates and the manner of his defense is probably as close to the actual facts as it is humanly possible for one to attain. What was meant by this? Meletus says that Socrates is the person in Athens who is responsible for the corruption of the youth. Sometimes he stood in a trance for hours. That the false accusations of his being a corrupter of youth began at the time of his obedience to the , and tells how went to the Oracle, to ask her the priestess if there was a man wiser than Socrates.
On learning of that oracular pronouncement, Socrates says he was astounded, because, on the one hand, it is against the nature of the Oracle to lie, but, on the other hand, he knew he was not wise. Throughout the Apology, Socrates puts forward his views of wisdom, virtue, and nobility he believes to be moral truths, not to clear his name, but to reveal the ignorance of his prosecutors, judges, and fellow citizens. However, Socrates himself never taught such matters, and his defense at 19d is not that he was never interested in Presocratic philosophy, but that he never claimed expertise or taught it himself. Meletus' motivation in bringing charges against Socrates is a matter of considerable debate. Which to the better fate is known only to God. The alternative sentence that Socrates did propose was so contrary to what the judges had expected that it might seem to have been made for the purpose of irritating them. This is a later work.
Part of the charge against Socrates was his alleged disbelief in the gods of Athens. Yet it is absurd to say that only Socrates corrupts the youth. Socrates is known as one of the most important philosophers in history. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Socrates says that a fear of death is an imitation of wisdom not true wisdom. Reed, Jean Roberts, Mark McPherran, Ilavid M. It surely had some role to play in the charges against Socrates.
Adding to Anytus's displeasure must have been the advice Socrates gave to his son. Who would voluntarily corrupt the youth? Socrates, however, decided not to escape. It was customary in Athens for a prisoner who had been condemned to death to have the opportunity of proposing an alternate sentence, which would be accepted if approved by a majority of the judges. The Phaedo is longer than the other two works. Thus, a finger is both long and short.
Socrates later clarifies that point of philosophy when he says that whatever wisdom he possesses comes from knowing that he knows nothing 23b, 29b. Without citing a source, Diogenes Laertïus reported 281 votes condemning Socrates; Burnet said that Diogenes's report conflicts with Plato's report in the Apology of Socrates 36a , because Socrates said that if only thirty more judges had voted in his favour, he would have been acquitted. If somehow a young person were corrupted, then the corruption was unintentional. Regarding the Charge of Impiety Socrates next takes up the charge of Impiety. But now these people will bear the responsibility for it -- and they will have allowed Athens to be condemned for its condemnation of Socrates. Early in his life Socrates apparently was interested in science; later in life Socrates emphasized ethical and epistemological inquiry.
He would then be free to go to some foreign country, and no one would interfere with what he was doing. The fact being, that with regard to the care bestowed by the gods upon men, his belief differed widely from that of the multitude. No more suitable reward could be offered a poor man who is a benefactor of the public and who desires leisure that he may use for the purpose of giving instruction. Volume 1 The earlier presocratics and the pythagoreans. Plato's Socrates provocatively tells his jury that he is a hero.
He thus accepts the death penalty imposed on him as a matter of righteous conduct and lawful behavior. At trial, Socrates identifies Meletus as an unknown, young man with an. A proposal of this kind would enable him to escape the death sentence and at the same time provide some justification for the verdict they had rendered. Prologue 17a-19a The first sentence sets the tone and direction for the entire dialogue. Anytus, the Power Behind the Prosecution Anytus, a powerful middle-class politician from a family of tanners, is generally considered to have been the driving force behind the prosecution of Socrates.
An extensive examination of various interpretations of the trial by Douglas Linder. In the Phaedo 96a-98b , Socrates claims that in his youth, he was attracted to the teachings of Anaxagoras, one of the great Presocratics, but that he later abandoned that line of thinking. In order to obtain answers to religious questions, intellectual Athenians would consult the popular poets, with their many stories having to do with the activities of the gods recognized by the state. Anytus, the Power Behind the Prosecution Anytus, a powerful middle-class politician from a family of tanners, is generally considered to have been the driving force behind the prosecution of Socrates. In cross-examination, Socrates leads Meletus to contradict himself: That Socrates is an atheist who also believes in spiritual agencies and.
He is accused of impiety because the Oracle at Delphi said there was no wiser man in then Socrates, and Socrates knew he was not wise. In his examination of statesmen, poets, and artisans, he reveals that they do not know what they claim to know. Plato's purpose in writing this dialog included something more than a historical interest. The oracle had answered the question in the negative, thus making it clear that Socrates was indeed the wisest of all the men in Athens. Adding to the displeasure of Anytus must have been the advice Socrates gave to his son. Socrates, in Plato's account, points to his refusal to comply with the Tyrants' order that he bring in Leon of Salamis for summary execution. The only kind of rhetoric for which he has any use is that of making a presentation of facts in language so clear that all can understand.
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