Wisdom In Plato's Apology

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)

“…if I disobeyed the oracle because I was afraid of death: then I should be fancying that I was wise when I was not wise. For this fear of death is indeed the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance of the unknown: since no one knows whether death, which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good” (Apology, 29a-29b). This potent statement not only highlights Socrates’ wisdom, it effectively makes use of his belief that he is wise because he knows nothing. By saying that he knows nothing of the afterlife, it gives him the reason to illustrate to his audience that he cannot fear what he does not know.

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.

THE DEATH (SOUL) OF A PHILOSOPHER ( PLATO’S PHAEDO 59C-70) INTRODUCTION The dialog begins with phaedo, cebes and simmias depicting on Socrates explaining on a reason why a true philosopher should not fear to die the main reason being if a person truly applies oneself in the right way to the love of knowledge as the pursuit of the reality they prepare themselves for the very act of dying since for them death is better than life . In the dialog, Echecrates asks Phaedo to tell him about Socrates ' death, and we see Phaedo warmly welcomes the chance to remember his friend Socrates in the final hours of his life.

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.

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.

"Wisdom is commonly used to describe the character of what is reasonable", a number of philosopher's have their own views on wisdom such as Socrates, Heidegger, Nietzsche and Popper. Wisdom to me is intelligence and common sense, wisdom keeps us grounded to the truth of live and avoid unnecessary problems. Socrates was a lower-class man who lived off his friend's earnings but very wise man during 339 BCE in Athens, Greece. "The Apology" starts off with Socrates charged with not recognizing the God's and he is found guilty. According to Socrates, "I know that I know nothing" and continues to state that he is the wisest man alive for knowing that.

A fool can be satisfied but he will not see all the aspects that Socrates will see. Thus making him ignorant to the reasons for Socrates dissatisfaction. Although Socrates claims to be ignorant himself, he is one of most respected and studied philosophers in history. This shows that he was clearly onto something with his ideals. Socrates might say that the fool’s satisfaction is not the kind that he would want, he would want a much more fulfilling satisfaction than one who seeks common wants such as wealth, fame etc… Would Socrates be satisfied if he knew the answer to every question he or someone else asked?

In Plato’s Apology, Socrates is charged with not recognizing the gods recognized by corrupting the youth. Socrates defends himself, but his defense does not work. He loses the trial which leads to him be sentenced to death, and he has to face death. Throughout his defense, he brings up the subject of death and constructs a proper view of death.

During the 399 B.C., Socrates for rejecting the Greek gods and for putting wrong moral ideas in his student 's minds was sentenced to death. But Socrates’ goal wasn 't that, his goal was to encourage his disciples to find any reason by themselves for what is true and real. After Socrates’ death, Plato, who was one of his best students, opened the Academy- school that continued Socrates 's ideas. In this School, Plato wrote The Republic, where he states that each individual’s perspective of reality is changing, and can change more every time. People get more knowledge about the world and their surroundings.

He knows that he will not be as righteous as Duncan. Eventually, the truth about his tyranny will be reveal and

They go back and forth with the arguments. As expected Socrates win the he decides to say in the prison and face death. By analyzing Socrates’s premises, I think that Socrates had a weak truth to the premises, but they strongly connect to his conclusion.

The Apology consists of Socrates making a speech while he 's on trial for multiple conviction; including corrupting the youth of Athens and not believing in the Gods. Throughout the short story we also read that the Oracle of Delphi tells Socrates that he 's the wisest man in all Greece, making Socrates question what they are implying and then tries to prove them inaccurate. Lastly, Socrates ends his speech by saying that "the unexamined life is not worth living". Socrates never fully explains what we was implying with this phase, however I believe he was expressing to "leave no stone unturned" and to live life to its fullest.