The first was that he was teaching new gods not recognized by the Athenians. The second was that he was corrupting the youth with his ideas and beliefs. He had arguments to defend himself but it wouldn't do much because he was one individual going against the community. The three aspects of identity and the social environment are addressed many times in this novel. Socrates was one man being accused by another man, Meletus, and was going to be judged by the jury, or the community.
In the text of The Apology, Socrates outlines his actions in following this oracle. He questioned everyone with a reputation for wisdom—poets, craftsmen, and politicians—and after having a conversation with them, he determined they were not in fact wise at all. He concluded that he was the one with the most wisdom since he recognized that he actually wasn’t wise at all. The second charge of impiety placed against Socrates was that he believed in the supernatural things of
Is Socrates a Believable Character? Socrates, as most know, is a man famous for offending Athenian beliefs during 4th century BC. Philosophy was not accepted at this time therefore many believed Socrates rambled on about nonsense. Although this seemed like nonsense to people living in Athens at the time, Socrates still voiced his opinion as his love for philosophy was more important then what was said of him. As history shows, Socrates is a believable character as the Apology written by Plato has many examples showing he truly is philosophical and wise.
Around 400 BC Plato, one of Socrates greatest admirers, wrote a dialog of the speech Socrates makes at the trial where he was accused of not recognizing the gods that the state recognized, and for corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates is brought before a jury to defend his case and uses the method of cross-examination to prove his argument. Throughout the duration of the trial, Socrates uses concrete evidence and his distinctive logical to prove to his accusers that he is innocent. Instead, Socrates establishes a strong argument for his claim that he is essentially one of the most positive influences on the youth while recognizing that the gods do exist. Before Socrates went to trial to prove his innocence, in addition to already believing he was the wisest in all of Athens, he confirmed his assumption by asking the oracle.
The 10th Juror is prejudiced and racist against the boy and his race as well as his background. The 10th Juror ignores the evidence which results in him continually fighting against those who are voting not guilty, for no particular reason but his prejudice. Juror 11 disagreed with Juror 3, 7 and 10 as Juror 11 talked based on facts and he is strictly looking for justice rather than the people who just voted guilty for no real reason. The playwright indicates that the facts and truth is of outstanding importance when deliberating a judicial trial. Rose explores the idea that extreme prejudice can blind people to the truth.
To throw them off as he performs his own inquiry? Two months pass and he accomplishes nothing, and when he finally does try to prove Claudius’ guilt, he makes it obvious that he knows of his uncle’s sins. The answer is much simpler. While Hamlet cries that he cannot “weep for [Hecuba]” (2.2.587) and how he cannot act or have the passion like the player, he has actually deceived himself, for he has played the part of the mad man so well, that he does not even recognize his own slip into madness. It immediately needs to be pointed out that Hamlet is a man of a very high education.
It appears that Socrates has had a change of heart but his stance never changes. Apology is Socrates trial where he has to defend himself, in front of a jury, of accusations against him. Meletus argues that he, “busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he makes the worse into the stronger argument, and teaches these same things onto others” (Apology 24b). Socrates argues that he is not a teacher because he does not accept pay. The young men that follow him around are not his students, but try to mimic the way that he acts.
In Plato's the Apology of Socrates, Socrates defends himself in front of the Athenian assembly for the allegedly failing to believe in the gods as well as harming the minds of young men of Athens by questioning those in authority and spreading false truths. His defense and explanation of his actions in the "service to the god" show that Athenians do not actually have the wisdom they claim to possess, that the absence of wisdom in government and society can harm a population and that while craft knowledge is valuable and explains the "how" of things, it lacks the ability to explain the "why" of things. He begins to refute the accusations against him by asking several questions of his prosecutor, Meletus, and comparing Meletus' answers to demonstrate
I admire his belief that one must concentrate more on self-development than on materialistic things and his view that virtues are the most powerful of all possessions. Since Socrates wrote nothing most of what we know of him comes from his disciple Plato, who wrote Socrates’ teachings in works called Dialogues. In this we learn about his creation of the Socratic method, which is a form of debate between individuals based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking. He is best recognized for inventing the teaching practice of pedagogy, wherein a teacher questions a student in a manner that draws out the correct response. I imagine that we would discuss the challenges he faced with the Athenians due to his ideals, which weren’t accepted in that time.
Some healthy, or not so healthy sibling rivalry. The second part of the book, “Theogony,” is a poem of the Greek Gods and in my opinion could have been the ones who invented revenge because they display it the best. Either being the most graceful or being horribly evil, revenge was no stranger to Greek mythology. Hesiod’s “Works and Days” is a poem about his low life brother Perses who thinks he didn’t get his fair share in their father’s inheritance. Perses thinks it is so unfair that he even takes the dispute to court for a hearing.