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.
It was a few men who belittled Socrates that conducted the charge on Socrates. These men signified those that Socrates scrutinized in his exploration to find out just how true the Delphic Oracle really was. Regarding his studies, Socrates had come to realize that not one of the men supported their assumption on what they knew was true as it was indeed entirely false. Being proven wrong by Socrates made the men so annoyed and irritated at him that they grouped as one and indicted Socrates. Showing that he is full of knowledge and proving his own innocence is what made the men indict him as they also did not want to feel embarrassed by
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
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 responds to this by telling them that he wasn’t surprised by their decision. He believes that he would rather die than have to conform to what they believe. Socrates says, “for the unexamined life is not worth living.” He also says that death brings on something that is unknown and it could bring peace or it could be bad. He doesn’t want to be quiet and keep his believes to himself. After the court sentences Socrates to death, he ends with a very strong statement.
compare and contrast Many people may feel that Socrates and Dr. King made their decisions off of unjust morals in no regard to the heath and safety to any other human being. Socrates and Dr. King may have caused harm not only to themselves but to their society as well. It only may have looked that way to some but that is not the case of these two great human beings. Socrates and Dr. King changed the way people feel, act, and think toward the rule or law which stood in their time. Even though these two men have differences of have they provided there point of view to the society but they also had similarities of how they made their points across to society.
Socrates In Plato’s “Apology,” Socrates is found guilty of corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods of Athens. The punishment for his crimes was death. “Crito” takes place in jail in which Socrates resides before his death. During this period, Socrates’ friend Crito comes to visit him and tries to persuade him to escape. Socrates, being the philosopher that he was, argued on whether he should escape or not.
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.
One of them being that his accusers were unable to locate any of his students that had shown to be corrupted by his teachings. He also pointed out that the charges against him, were brought on by the same people that had been after him for his different way of thinking, his charges of questioning or working against the authority was the work, of what would be today’s “One Percent” who saw his philosophy on education as a severe threat to their extremely privileged lifestyle (Plato 21-22.) He explains in the Apology that the men bringing him up on these accusations have been after him for quite some time and that these are merely the last of a slew of absurdly false accusations they have yet again burdened him with. “I must surely defend myself and attempt to uproot your minds in so short a time the slander that has resided there so long.”(Plato 22) He doesn’t question the law once, however and remains loyal in affirming the law of the land. Socrates stays cool headed where many a man have floundered in frustration, albeit confrontational as any sane man facing death row would and should
Euthyphro The Socratic dialogue Euthyphro attempts to answer the question what is piety? Euthyphro claims to know what piety is while Socrates admits ignorance and wants to be educated on the matter because he is being charged with impiety. Euthyphro is charging his own father for murder, an impious action, and he is so confident this is the right thing because of knowledge of piety. This is how Socrates knows Euthyphro can teach him about piety because he does not just say he knows what it is he is acting on it, possibly sending his father to death. Socrates says “…before he could have seen his way to bring such an action”.