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Socrates Apology Analysis

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The ‘Apology’ is a form of dialectic philosophy. It illustrates the charges brought upon Socrates and the self-defense he demonstrates during the trial. Socrates is accused of ‘corruption of the youth’ and ‘impiety’. Socrates is found guilty of having faith in the wrong Gods and Meletus accuses him of not acknowledging the sun and moon as gods but as masses of stone. Socrates is accused of studying things in heaven and below the earth. He is accused of provoking the young citizens to stop trusting the politicians blindly and think for themselves. It is said that he makes the weak argument strong and vice-versa. Socrates puts forth four arguments to defend himself against the first charge of corruption of the youth. He says that Meletus, who was his principle accuser, is bringing forth a charge he is ignorant about and has no knowledge of. He says that to understand corruption one must primarily understand improvement. To prove his point, he asks Meletus to name people that improve the youth. To this, Meletus replies that the law improves young men. Since Meletus is not able to provide concrete evidence of what improves the young citizens, he says that Meletus is not concerned with the welfare of the youth and therefore concludes that Meletus is unmindful of the youth. Meletus has shown that he doesn’t understand corruption by claiming that everyone, but Socrates improves the young crowd. However, the statement is exactly contrary to the current scenario as only those

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