The Corruption Of Socrates In Plato's Five Dialogues

In Plato’s Five Dialogues, the protagonist is a philosopher named Socrates. Socrates is a very curious man, who spent his time asking the citizens of Athens questions that turned into discussions, hoping to answer ethical dilemmas. These debates would often end with Socrates embarrassing his opponent by pointing out the flaws in their argument, without actually stating his own beliefs. This practice later became known as the Socratic Method. Some people respected Socrates, such as the youth who followed him around in their free will, while others criticized him, such as those who he publicly humiliated.

Socrates was sent to trial on behalf of five charges. The charges were; he studies things in the sky and below the Earth, he makes the worse into the stronger argument, he teaches these same things to others, he is corrupting the young, and he does not believe in the

This charge implies that Socrates, alone, was actively seeking out the young and teaching them ideas that go against the Greek beliefs. Socrates states that, "the young men who follow me around of their own free will, those who have most leisure, the sons of the very rich, take pleasure in hearing people questioned; they themselves often imitate me and try to question others." (Plato 28). The most important part of Socrates’s statement is the phrase "own free will." This phrase shows that, Socrates was not forcing his views on anyone, nor did he have views to begin with. Since Socrates does not have any views of his own, how can he impose those on others? Although he annoyed the citizens, he was technically doing no harm to the people. The whole reason Socrates goes around questioning the “wise” is to become wise himself and to discover his own beliefs. A person with no beliefs of his own cannot go and impose them on others, it is simply impossible. You cannot force what is not