Plato's Defense Of Corruption In The Apology By Socrates

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

In this paper I will examine why Socrates did not attempt to appease the jury in his Apology. Socrates is put on trial for corrupting the youth and believing in gods other than the gods of the city. I believe he chose not to appease the jury for three reasons: he is a man of pride, he does not fear death and additionally finds it shameful to fear death.

According to Socrates perspective, the democracy of Athens was corrupt and even though they courts were made in such a way that everyone was judged fairly, it wasn’t such because there were no rules or principles set forth. When a person was brought to court in the Athenian court and the person spoke against the jurors or offended them, he or she could be prosecuted based on that. In summary, judgment was passed based on emotion rather than on justice.

Plato’s Apology tells the account of the trial of the philosopher Socrates. It is Plato’s account of what Socrates said against the charges they were being brought to him and his pursuit of his own innocence throughout the trial. The charges that are being brought up against him are that he is damaging the youth by corrupting them, accusation of his belief in the gods and teaching about gods that were not accepted by the State, they believe he is trying to change religion, while also accusing him that he will not prove to the court that he did not perform in these action. From the beginning, he asks not to be interrupted while he speaks and as he speaks his accusers seem to be taken back by his words. At the end Socrates changes in a sense

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.

“Socrates: An Atypical Hero of Greece” In Plato’s The Apology, Socrates defended himself while on trial against the old and new accusers in part by relating himself to other ancient Greek heroes. His most daring comparison is to the greatest hero of the ancient Greek civilization: Achilles. The purpose of Socrates’ defense speech was to attempt to persuade the jury that the social order of Greek society needed to transfer from an honor culture to a civilization that prioritized justice overall. By comparing and contrasting attributes of himself to Achilles, Socrates attempted to justify his claim that he was a hero like Achilles because they were both willing to sacrifice their lives for what they believed was right for the common good of others.

The Apology written by Plato is about the speech of Socrates at the trial in which he is accused and chargef for “corrupting the young” and “not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonian that are novel.” The meaning of the Apology gets from the Greek "apologia," which interprets as to defend, or a speech made to defend oneself.

Do to Socrates' carefree lifestyle of no conformity, he was often accused of breaking laws and customs. Similarly, The Apology and Crito, speaks of Socrates experience with these accusations and how he believes persuasion is the most effective means of protest. The Apology is a dialogue written by Plato in 399 BC. The Apology features a speech presented by Socrates during his trial with the government.

Plato's account shows more of what Socrates intended and a deeper understanding of his reasoning. Both authors show that Socrates is accused of injustice. He is corrupting the youth by teaching them intelligent ways to win arguments, whether right or wrong. In the Clouds, Aristophanes shows Socrates as guilty. The court usually gives the defendant to speak in his defense and convince he judges that he is innocent.

Socrates defended himself and showed the truth by standing up for what he believed in. By doing this, he was put to death. Socrates effectively used the three acts of the mind to rebut the charges made against him at trial. Socrates used the first act of the mind: understanding. Socrates used simple apprehension by stating facts that explain different

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.

Making enemies and becoming the topic of conversation, the Athenians began to view Socrates as a threat to their beliefs and way of life and sought to end it. In order to end this, Socrates was accused of blasphemy (Mod1SlideC7). Socrates’s accusers took him to court and after Socrates did not play their game by asking to be sent into exile, and in the end, he was sentenced to death. After reading the textbook and Plato’s writing influenced by Socrates, I realized that in the period of his life Socrates was indeed truly a threat to the Athens society, because he looked for answers that no one else bothered to find which challenged their culture.

The version of Socrates presented in both The Apology, Crito, and The Republic could very well be two different versions of Socrates as presented by Plato. However, both versions of Socrates have one thing in common: they both value the importance of philosophy and they both defend philosophy as something that is important to humanity.

A man is sentenced and put to death for stealing an apple from the grocery store. Where he resides, theft is a capital crime. Was this trial just? Most people would say no, it is immoral and unjust to execute someone for theft, especially for something as small as an apple. Although this is true, this man broke the law, committing a capital crime. The result of a capital crime is execution. Therefore, the laws were upheld and this was a just trial. If laws are not followed, what would be the point of laws? This question arises in Plato’s Apology. The Apology is Socrates’ speech to defend himself in his trial against the charges of corruption of the youth and believing in false gods. This is written by his student, Plato, who was present during this trial. Socrates is sentenced to death for these crimes because during that time, it was

Socrates was a greek philosopher who found himself in trouble with his fellow citizens and court for standing his grounds on his new found beliefs from his studies about philosophical virtue, justice, and truth. In “Apology” written by Plato, Socrates defended himself in trial, not with the goal of escaping the death sentence, but with the goal of doing the right thing and standing for his beliefs. With this mindset, Socrates had no intention of kissing up to the Athenians to save his life. Many will argue that Socrates’ speech was not very effective because he did not fight for his life, he just accepted the death sentence that he was punished with. In his speech he said, “But now it’s time to leave, time for me to die and for you to live.”