Similarities Between Socrates And Plato

Throughout the time the name of Justice has been wandering in the pathway, which is alike to the sinusoid. Every society changes the concept of justice, and it is of high possibility that there is no justice in the vacuum at all. Thus, how can the people of another society with different perceptions judge Socrates, whose ideas were the basement of theirs; how can they judge objectively without experiencing and living in the Athenian democracy? Therefore, this essay is quite subjective because of the only one source that was given to the world with the help of the Plato, the famous and faithful student of Socrates. In order to dig out the truth it is necessary to discuss and describe both options: first, if Socrates was guilty, and, second,

It is necessary to admit that it is more likely for Socrates to be guilty more from ruler’s perspective rather than from people’s. He was charged with corrupting the youth. If to be more accurate, he was educating Athenians things which were forbidden, which did not coincided with the general philosophy of the state. By believing in different gods Socrates undermined Athenian traditions. In turn, it could have been treated as disrespect. According to the ‘Apology’ by Plato, Socrates tried to defend himself, but he manipulated with crowd’s attention by pointing only to the affiliation of the daimonia to the traditional Gods, but not to the believing directly in that Gods (West et al. 1998). Furthermore, educated person can think differently, can analyze government’s decisions and act in a new unknown manner. If every single person, whom Socrates educated, started to question the Athenian governors and what is said to be truth, it would directly shatter the safety of the state. As it known, safety is of the highest priorities of

Two implications have their own lives, and each argument makes the implications appear more possible. However, the question remains: was Socrates guilty? It is of great importance to explain one crucial point. Democracy means the power of the people, of the citizens. Thus, it is already meant that the people create the state and not vice versa. Therefore, the more intelligent people are, the more intelligent the state is. Despite the fact that nowadays people look at the world through new different lenses, the words of Socrates still find their echo. In such a way, it can be concluded that Socrates was mistakenly found guilty, because his progressive ideas, even that he was punished for them, led to the present society we have now. As it known, any law can be proposed by any citizen. Of course, then the proposal should be accepted by higher legislative bodies; nevertheless, if a citizen has a right to introduce a law, he certainly has a right to have his own opinion and to talk freely. Loren Samons assessed the event of Socrates execution as a failure of understanding the meaning and potential of their own democracy (Samons 2004). Thus, if citizens have a right to initiate a law, intelligence plays even more important role. People should be educated and intelligent to create such laws that could serve the public good. Socrates was the one who was willing to educate, because he was the one who really loved the wisdom, he was a true philosopher. If