Plato's The Trial And Death Of Socrates

The first defence was against the claim that he had corrupted the youth, “[I]t’s Meletus who is guilty of playing around with serious matters, of lightly bringing people to trial, and of professing to be seriously concerned about things he has never cared about at all” (Plato, Apology, 24c). By saying this is, Socrates addresses his opinion on Meletus, that Meletus is somebody who knows nothing about a situation, yet brings people to trial and pretends to be concerned about things, when in reality- he never cared. The second defence was against the claim that he philosophized cosmology. Meaning, he studied the earth, emphasizing that he never believed in a God, which made him look as if he lacked impiety. Socrates defence against this was, “You aren’t all convincing, Meletus, not even, it seems to me, to yourself.

Plato, p. 46 The argument then leads to the understanding that men with vice realize this painful aspect of justice and are blind to its good impact on the soul. They cannot therefore, be happy. In fact, states Socrates: "…a man who is not brought to justice is more wretched than one who is." Plato, p. 47

Within the greater work, The Trial and Death of Socrates, Socrates’ own defense against the people of Athens begs the questions of whether Athens was a just society. Punished to death, Socrates’ is forever a martyr for his ideals and his debate unjust death begins Plato’s exploration into Justice. Through The Apology, Plato explains how the silencing of Socrates is a harsh injustice due to the democratic nature of his trial that strips the moral absolution from Justice as well as shows that Athens, as society of individualist justice, has failed in instilling order that allows for greater unity as a perfect Whole. Plato elects to transcribe the final defense of Socrate so to highlight why exactly Socrates’ death was unwarranted. To Plato, Socrates was a hero; furthermore, his service to the city of Athens is irreplaceable.

The first reason Socrates gives for accepting his death sentence is the fact that Athens has provided him with education. (Crito page 15) Although Socrates thinks this is a just reason, Plato would disagree because Socrates could have become corrupted and bad without proper education. According to Plato, Socrates would have the traits of a philosopher king. Socrates loves the truth, hates the false, is moderate and courageous. (The Republic 485a-486b)

SOCRATIC PARADOXES Many of Socrates ' beliefs have been characterized as paradoxical because they seem to conflict with common sense. The following are among the Socratic Paradoxes:  No body seeks evil  No body will commit wrongdoings with his own will  All virtue is knowledge  Virtue is sufficient for happiness The expression 'I know that I know nothing ', is a renowned phrase from Plato 's account of the Greek philosopher Socrates.

And at its climax, the chorus, representing his Theban people, disavowed King Oedipus and his contributions to Thebes saying it would have been better without him. These acts combined drive the humiliated Oedipus towards self-punishment, exile, and to his piteous, shameful fate. Sophocles in Oedipus the King puts the idea of truth and knowledge in the spotlight of Greek and modern audiences. Although Oedipus himself meets a collectively negative end, the power of truth is revealed through his misery. Some things are best left to the Gods rather than in the minds of men, it would have been to Oedipus’ ignorant bliss.

Hesiod’s Theogony was no longer able to satisfy the higher minds among the nation. Thus, inspiring Aeschylus to write tragic poets such as Prometheus’ Bound in order to express his own ideology and pointing the moral of tragedy. It is no surprise that Hesiod viewed Zeus as a glorified olympian hero and Prometheus as a traitor who stole fire and gave it to mankind. Aeschylus’s idea of Prometheus was conflicting to Hesiod, whereby he viewed Prometheus as a god supporting the civilization of mankind.

The "Apology" by Plato is a story about Socrates, who defended himself against accusers. Socrates was one of the greatest thinkers in ancient Greece and one of the few whose wisdom was noticed. From this story we can learn who Socrates was and what kind of life he had lived. To understand why Socrates deserved to be executed, we should have a view of times before execution. I will provide a brief opening statement.

(199, a~b) The major difference between Socrates’ and Agathon’s concept of Eros was that Agathon claimed Eros to be the god, while Socrates said Eros was a child between god of Resource and god of Poverty, and that Eros serves as an intermediary spirit between gods and mortals. Socrates gets his point across by utilizing the “Socratic Method,” which is done by asking Agathon sequence of questions, so that Agathon feels less certain about his knowledge on

Heraclitus is a Greek philosopher also known as “the Riddler” because he often contradicted himself and insulted other historians and philosophers. He was interested in “exploring questions about knowledge and the human condition as in exploring cosmological issues” (24). Heraclitus believed that logos was the divine law of the universe which controlled the cosmos. Logos is something said, an account, word, and/or logic. He argued that everyone had the ability to understand this principle but instead act as if they are asleep.

Meteus was a deeply religious man, and apparently was not intelligent. Writings claims that Socrates embarrassed meteus by out witting him in public. Antuts was a wealthy manufactuor who’s son wanted to have Socrates as a sophist. However, Antus adamantly said no and his son became enraged. Antus blamed Socrates for his sons gambling addiction, alcoholism and ultimately his

In this paper I will discuss and evaluate the definitions of piety in Plato’s Euthyphro. Plato wrote this dialogue shortly after Socrates death. The Euthyphro is one of Plato’s early philosophy dialogs in which it talks about Socrates and Euthyphro’s conversations dealing with the definitions of piety and gods opinion. This dialogue begins when Socrates runs into Euthyphro outside the authorities and the courts. Socrates is there because he has been charged with impiety, and Euthyphro is there to accuse his father for the death of a man named Meletus who was a farm hard.

A1 Socrates claims that he does not know him, yet has heard that Meletus is young and unknown, describing him as a man with long hair, little facial hair, and an aquiline nose. He also commends Meletus in his charge against him, believing that his concerns are not misplaced and that he likely cares for the well-being of the state. A2 The charges that Meletus brings against Socrates are that he is corrupting the minds of the youth with his ignorance and he is conjuring up new gods while neglecting to believe in the old ones. A3 Euthyphro is bringing charges against his father for murdering a servant, named Naxos, of his property who was also a murderer for killing another servant in a fit of drunken anger.

In his powerful dialogue “Euthyphro”, Plato utilizes a simple conversation between Socrates and Euthyphro pertaining to the definition of piety to argue that Euthyphro is not the expert in religion that he appears to be. Euthyphro defines holiness in ways such as indicting religious criminals, as something being supported by all the gods, as a form of fairness, and as an exchange between a person and a god. Euthyphro states that holiness is indicting religious criminals, although Socrates finds this response disagreeable because of the fact that there are countless acts that can be considered holy. Euthyphro then goes on to declare that holiness is simply something that is approved of by all the gods, although Socrates questions this statement