Validity in the Charges of Impiety against Socrates Impiety is commonly defined as a lack of proper concern for the obligations owed to public religious observation. Plato’s Apology consists of a speech made by Socrates, a well-known philosopher, in defense of his life and conduct at his trail. Socrates was accused of being impious through accusations such as corrupting the youth of Athens, not recognizing the gods that are recognized by the state, as well as inventing new deities. The question then becomes, with these accusations in mind, are the charges of impiety against Socrates valid? This question is not easy to answer, and is in fact, quite complex.
He now tells that piety is that which is dear to the gods, and impiety that which is not dear (6). Socrates then praises Euthyphro for this new definition, but still is not satisfied, and so begins to further question this definition until he can turn it into one that he can use in his own practice (6). He begins with telling of how people can have differences of opinions, and how these differences can lead into feelings of hatred, in which Euthyphro agrees (6). Socrates then go's into how the gods themselves can also have there own differences of opinions, which can also lead into unrest amongst them, which they also agree upon (6). He then leads up to his main objection of this definition by means of stating that even though men and gods love that which they think is noble and good, and hate that which is opposite to those things, not everyone thinks this way about all things (Plato, 7).
Meletus has spread the rumor that Socrates is sacreligious and creates his own deities as well as sharing these ideas with the youth of Athens, and therefore corrupting them. To defend himself against these charges, Socrates asks Meletus to come forward and answer some questions. Socrates is especially skillful in the questions he asks of his antagonist, with the result that Meletus is contradicting himself and making himself look ridiculous with his amount of absurd accusations. He implies that Socrates is the only one endangering the minds of the children. All the other residents of Athens are trying to build up the minds of the youth and promoting their well being.
Epic of Gilgamesh Alternate Perspective Good morning teachers and students, today I will be presenting Gilgamesh’s real perspective of his adventures. The fluid nature of perspective is derived from the susceptibility of information to varied interpretations. This is explicated in the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, where the protagonist’s selflessness and love for Uruk and its people is overlooked due to the rigid expectations of modern society. The incongruities between Gilgamesh’s own perspective and a modern interpretation show that society’s perceptions of a ‘hero’ are highly volatile, relying immensely on the innate subjectivity of perspectives. The aberrant perspective of Gilgamesh which I am presenting may seem divergent and atypical when analysed in accordance to our modern values and principles, but to Gilgamesh this would be quite natural.
He starts out by adressing them as "friends" because he wants to come to them as a friend rather than a ruler trying to get power . He then uses a false disclaimer when he says " I come to bury Caesar , not to praise him " , as he will in fact praise Caesar . Later on , he counters what brutus says by providing that Caesar was not ambitious .He repeats 'honorable' so often inregards to brutus and the others , that to the crowd it starts to mean the opposite . The crowd are swayed to him by his dramatics , His underhanded way of making a point and his compelling proof for caesar's concern "the will" . They find it easily to accept him as an emotional and sincere speaker
They continue to bring up the topic of pious and unpious actions. Euthyphro claims “the pious is to do what I am doing, to prosecute the wrongdoer…not to prosecute is impious.” Then, Socrates exclaims he is the defendant in his case because he believes it is difficult to accept the common knowledge the people believe about the goods, since there is no plausible evidence. As the dialogue continues, Socrates claims that “different gods consider different things to be just…for they would not be at odds with one another unless they differed about these subjects…(page 9, 7e)” Then the same things would be both pious and unpious. Simply, the nature of Socrates is to question and further complicate matters by counter arguments. Then Socrates states that the matter is finding who the wrongdoer is rather than how he must be punished.
Socrates is supposed to be in a different | | |position since there is a jury to be convinced, and he believes he has a | | |strong argument since everyone present who is related to those who may have | | |been corrupted is there to defend, not accuse, him. | |Socrates says, “but either I do not corrupt them, or if I corrupt |Socrates admits that there is a chance that he is corrupting the youth, but | |them, I do it involuntarily, so that you are lying in both events.|that would only be if it is happening as an unintended effect. If, in asking | |But if I corrupt them involuntarily, for such involuntary errors |questions to seek out wisdom he has somehow corrupted the young men of | |the law is not to hale people into court, but to take them and |Athens, then he says he should have been told that what he was doing was
First, when Euthyphro defines piety as “doing as I am doing”, Euthyphro is meaning that holiness is prosecuting religious offenders. Euthyphro feels that in prosecuting his father that he is following the example of the gods, and particularly Zeus, the most just if all gods. Socrates seems to find the first definition unsatisfying, he points out that the gods often quarrel, so what is agreeable to one might not be agreeable to all. Socrates then asks Euthyphro to again define piety. The second argument, Socrates has is that piety and impiety are opposites, and that the gods are always in a state of discord.
In Euthyphro, Socrates finds himself seeking knowledge from Euthyphro as to the definition of piety because he is being prosecuted for corrupting the youth of Athens with impiety. In search for his answer, Socrates finds himself questioning the very definitions that Euthyphro gives for piety. Instead of settling for the simplistic definition, he questions the obscurity of it and searches for a deeper understanding. In an attempt to keep face with Socrates, Euthyphro modifies his definition but it too gets picked apart by further questions. This back and forth notion in pursuit of a valid definition of piety is a single example of searching for understanding and wisdom in a well-examined life.
A person with beliefs and principles should be allowed to express his/her thoughts because he/she can visualize something which others may not. In Plato's The Apology which literally means, defense, Socrates had many beliefs and Principles which weren't accepted by his fellow Athenians. Due to their false accusations against Socrates beliefs, an innocent man was wrongfully sentenced to death. I believe his death was not justified because he was just expressing his ideas, he took responsibilities for all of his actions, and he stood by his beliefs through many hardships.