It also becomes clear that Socrates seems to have known this all along and is actually trying to show Euthyphro that each man has his own idea of what piety is, and that there is no absolute truth concerning piety or impiety. Euthyphro is an account of a conversation that Socrates has with a religious figure before his famous trial for impiety. Upon learning that Euthyphro is bringing murder charges against his own father, for the death of a slave, Socrates decides that Euthyphro must be an authority on what is and is not pious. Hoping to learn from Euthyphro in order to appeal to those who will judge him, Socrates asks Euthyphro to share the secret of piety with him. Euthyphro begins by stating that piety is “doing as I do” (Guttengerg.org, 2008).
The Trial and Death of Socrates The “Apology” refers to the trial of Socrates’ conviction of not idealizing the gods that Athens idealized, and for corrupting the youth of Athens and creating new gods. Socrates starts off his defense by requesting to the jury to not criticize him for his speech aptitude since he was not thinking about what he was saying, but letting it all flow out hastily. He then goes on to tell his audience that his adversaries have given his audience misleading information (21). He continues to blame Meletus, his indicter, and his reason being that Meletus pressed charges on Socrates due to the fact that Meletus was jealous of Socrates. Socrates also mentions himself as being atheist.
There are three earlier charges and two later charges. Socrates tells the court that they should not be surprised by what he has to say. He tells the court that none of the charges are truthful or correct in anyway and he will tell them why they are not. The first charge against Socrates is that he studies what is in the air and below the Earth. To this, he says that this just isn’t true.
Socrates tells the jury that he will never stop practicing philosophy. His belief is that he was commissioned by the gods to practice it and therefore the jury has no power over him and his actions. Even if his practices go against the laws that Athens has established. When Socrates is found guilty by the jury, he then has to defend himself against the death penalty. Meletus
Mimi Hoang The primary issue that Euthypro and Socrates have is they trying to find the perfect answer for what is holy and unholy. The story begins when Socrates disagrees with Euthyrpo about why he would prosecute his own father for killing his servant. Socrates question Euthypro why would he prosecute his father and Euthypro says that he is a student of the law and what he did is right to the law. The main reason why they start their argument was whether is right or is wrong to put Euthypro’s dad in jail. So Socrates comes up with an idea that by asking Euthypro what is nature of holy and unholy.
Antigone’s Attitude Antigone is a very out-going, caring, and stubborn girl. She wants to make the point to Creon that she cared more about her family than life itself by going against the law to bury her brother Polynices, twice. The reason why she buried him the second time didn’t change from the first time, she just added more to it. The main reason was because it was her brother and she wanted to make the point that family is more important to her that listening to the law. Showing that she’s a caring and loyal person when it came to family.
Antigone the Tragic Hero In the play “Antigone”, Antigone is the tragic hero because she comes from nobility, suffers from a character flaw and lastly, she has an unhappy ending. Antigone was a very courageous character in this story. She chose her faith over man’s rules because she felt like it was morally correct. Antigone wanted to obey and do right by the gods. Therefore, she went against Creon’s rules (man’s rules) and buried her brother.
The passage says, “and reverence towards the gods must be safeguarded.” For Antigone this quote illustrates that her reasoning that the gods would be on her side was not an assumption she should have made, because not one did the gods talk to her specifically and tell her to bury the body of her brother. At first in the play Antigone was relishing in the fact that she would die for a noble hubris cause, but she later on questions the gods when she talks about the gods not being on her side. Creon on the other side commits the act of blasphemy towards the gods by mocking Zeus in one of his speeches. Creon also compares himself to the gods and both of them should have not used the god’s names for the hubris ways. Lastly the passage says, “those blows will teach us wisdom.” Both Antigone and Creon lost the very things they cared about while trying to be hubris.
It teaches us the meaning of free will and being able to independently decide what is truly pious or impious based on personal beliefs. In brief, the dialogue, Socrates tells Euthryphro how he is being put on trial for supposedly corrupting the youth and not fully believing in the god’s that the city believes in. Socrates doesn’t believe that he is guilty for any act, and seeking help from Euthryphro to educate him in how to act during his trial. With that, Euthryphro then shares a time when he was prosecuted for putting his father to trial due to a murder that his father unintentionally committed, and even though it was an unintentional act, it was still seen as a crime to the Greeks. After hearing what Euthryphro has to say about the prosecution of his father, he realizes that Euthryphro is a very wise man.
In my opinion it lets him relate to the individuals who are witnessing the trail and for those who are brought charges to him and giving him the ability to freely defend himself with the “truth”. He discusses further that his speech is not prepared and improvised unlike his accusers, which their speeches where full of non truth. After questioning Meletus who is the main individual bringing Socrates before the jury on the reasonings behind his claims and somewhat embarrassing him and emphasizing how much the Athenian government needs Socrates to stay relevant through the times. At the end of his disposition the jury finds Socrates guilty, he was given the choice of his punishment and pick death suggested by Meletus, he declared that an appropriate penalty couldn't be insisted since he feels he didn't intentionally wronged