A Rhetorical Analysis Of Socrates 'Apology'

Socrates is a man of pride. He has passion for his beliefs and values, and would rather die than give them up. When presented with the idea of the jury releasing him he states “as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy” (Plato 32). This shows that Socrates does not believe what he has done and what he believes in is wrong; he will continue to do what he had been put on trial for if released. This is the exact opposite of what one would say to appease the jury. Socrates is on trial because some believe what he was doing was wrong, by refusing to acknowledge that he was wrong, this speech contradicts our modern day idea of an apology.

With the Apology, and the Crito, Socrates comes to delve into his many teachings and finds himself put to death with the words of wisdom that have been passed down generation after generation. Socrates for many in this present day is a man of many words and great teachings, but anyone but Socrates thought differently, in Athens people thought of him as an annoyance rather than an integral part of society. As Socrates stood in front of the counsel of judges, he stood for what he thought was right and never changed opinion of himself or of his words. That’s why Socrates is still talked about in classrooms everywhere today.

No matter which path death is, death is a gain. One will either be a peaceful sleep, or a journey to another world filled with intelligent people and knowledge. He had support to his theory, but only talked about conversing with people from the past. The apology is repetitive in the last two paragraphs because Socrates desired to talk to all these different people. He did not clarify as to why living on Earth was cruel and that death was the only answer. He supported his ideas as to why life after death would be greater than life

In The Apology, Socrates attempts to defend himself and his conduct certainly not to apologize it. Derived from the Greek word “apologia,” which translates as a speech made in defense or as a defense only. This is an account of the speech Socrates makes at a trial in which he is charged inventing new deities, not recognizing the Gods recognized by state, and the Youth of Athens corruption.

The Apology was written by Plato, and relates Socrates’ defense at his trial on charges of corrupting the youth and impiety. Socrates argues that he is innocent of both charges. Plato reports the contents of three speeches delivered by Socrates in his own protection in court which has been arranged over him by the Athenian democrats and has terminated in the death sentence to the great philosopher. The word "apology" in a literal translation means "justification". Plato's purpose when writing "Apology" was to acquit posthumously Socrates from false accusation. In the Apology Socrates defends himself against the charges brought against him by his prosecutor Meletus in two ways. In the first way Socrates describes his method and

In Apology, Socrates faces possible execution as he stands trial in front of his fellow Athenian men. This jury of men must decide whether Socrates has acted impiously against the gods and if he has corrupted the youth of Athens. Socrates claims in his defense that he wants to live a private life, away from public affairs and teachings in Athens. He instead wants to focus on self-examination and learning truths from those in Athens through inquiry. Socrates argues that "a [man] who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if [he] is to survive for even a short time" (32a). He claims that this is how he has been able to live a long life in Athens and that he never meant any harm to the state. Socrates believes that for

Socrates sees himself as wiser than other men including the politicians, craftsmen, and poets because he did not go around thinking he knew what he did not know. As a result of this, his character reflected someone who saw himself as superior to others and instead of feeding that ego, he could have been a joined politics and have an influence on the Athenian democracy. If he had done this, people like Meletus and his later accusers would have taken his criticism in a positive way.

In general, I do agree with your analysis, Socrates intentions were to leave a mark in society. In other words, to have individuals then and now take some time to “think” and seek greater knowledge. In my opinion, I can have concluded that his argument in trial serve not just as a plead to prove his innocence but as an invitation to follow his philosophy. Plato’s documentation of that event proves that Socrates did not die in vain that some was hearing his words and has cause conscience of themselves. Additionally, it can be seen that Socrates came to the wisdom of knowing himself and defending that knowledge to the

I believe Socrates would affirm to the Self-chosen commitment response to life’s meaning. Having a Self-chosen commitment response is when one believes that the meaning of life is created by what one chooses. In The Apology Socrates describes his mission by using an analogy of a horse and a gadfly. He believes that God has sent him to this city to rouse the people. They have been living uninformed and sluggish lives and he was sent to awaken them. This alone shows that Socrates believes in God and God’s plan. In The Apology Socrates later states, “the unexamined life is not worth living for man…” In the story Socrates chose to answer the question of why he could not just live a quiet life in exile with that answer. He encourages everyone to

In the tale Gorgias by Plato, Socrates debates with four colleagues on what is rhetoric. To be able to answer if rhetoric is based on nature or convention you must first ask the question, what is rhetoric? Rhetoric stated by Socrates is the skill of making speeches (448d). Gorgias states that rhetoricians have the power of persuasions (452e). Rhetoric is having the power to persuade people in changing their opinion threw the power of speeches. Socrates states that persuasion is produced from opinion, not knowledge (454b-455a). Socrates states that rhetoric is based off opinion because if persuasion was knowledge it would be true, but not all persuasion is true. If persuasion was the same thing as knowledge it would never be false because you

I would argue that Socrates is influencing the audience and the people who will read his case to become more philosophical. He has a purpose

As Socrates is being put up for trial in Athens due to the distasteful accusations made against him In "Plato's Apology of Socrates" written by Plato, He stands firm to his philosophy that he was wiser than other men only due to the fact that he knows nothing. Socrates believes it his his duty to expose the common "wise men" knowledge as ignorance. These actions offended many, causing him to be put on death trial. Even so, Socrates manged to keep his calm and stands firm in the fact that one should never betray their own philosophy for any reason, even if the reason is death. This central message was not only greatly admired by past scholars, but also continues to influence freedom and justice in our world

Socrates asserts the effectiveness of the dialectic relationship and his “method is to call in support of [his] statements the evidence of a single witness, and to take his vote alone” (474a). Throughout the dialogue Socrates attempts to persuade three rhetoricians into a dialogue, with the intention of unearthing the truth, with each conceding to Socrates’ appeal to reason until Socrates’ dialogue with Callicles. This is where the weakness in Socrates’ position is revealed because had Socrates been able to persuade or engage Callicles this would have been a victory for the dialectical relationship, which Socrates’ argues is the only method of exposing the truth. Regardless of how consistent and logical Socrates’ method is Callicles refuses to participate, through the art of not listening, revealing the limitations in Socrates’ method at arriving to the truth and in essence the best way to

Socrates’ first premise is that when Socrates meets poets, politicians, artists and artisans, they claim to be wise and because of that claim they are not wise. Socrates’ second premise is that Sophists go around teaching how to make arguments only to win and not to prove anything one way or another, hence making them not

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.