Because of his occupation he’s not able to engage in public affairs (23b-c) iii. the young rich following him because they like to listen to his questioning (thus the accusation that he corrupts them) i. Socrates current accusers don’t know what he discusses so they’ve used the charges suggested by the earlier accusers i. Meletus defends the poets ii. Anytus: the craftsmen and politicians iii. Lycon: the orators C. The Later
Machiavelli was a philosopher of power. He continually preached and argued that good ends justify bad things. He believed people in society should conform to their leaders. Machavelli is believed to be a teacher of evil. The policies that Machiavelli created for new rulers were often considered cruel.
SOCRATES is not A SOPHIST By Kelly D. Price Introduction to Philosophy Dr. Melvin Tuggle February 24 2011 Socrates was not a Sophist; he never took money for his teaching, and rejected sophistical arguments. Socrates was genuinely worried about why the young men were so disappointing. Socrates' young students had been a particular disappointment to him. If Socrates could figure out exactly how the fathers had failed to properly educate their sons, he could save the city and restore Athens to its former glory. Socrates’ interesting idea was that human excellence was really a kind of knowledge.
One of the charges in the affidavit written by Meletus against Socrates is that he is an evil doer "corrupting the youth" (Grube). Another charge brought against Socrates is that he is making up new Gods and disregarding the old Gods the Athenians believe in (Grube). Socrates starts his defense by addressing the jury and telling them that his accusers had a prepared speech, while Socrates' speech will be completely improvised (Perel). Socrates continued to further disassociate himself from the opponents by telling the jury to forgive him for his conversational tone in his speech, for that is how he best speaks (Perel). Socrates asked the jury to focus on the substance of his defense, not how his defense is delivered.
He asked Euthyphro this question to test his intellect and she if he is indeed as smart as he claims. Euthyphro gave several answers to the question. Piety is doing as I am doing; that is to say, prosecuting anyone who is guilty of murder, sacrilege, or of any similar crime—whether he be your father or mother, or whoever he may be—that makes no difference; and not to prosecute them is impiety (Plato & Jowett, n.d). Socrates is not satisfied with the answer Euthyphro has given to
At the age of 18 he became an Athens citizen and had more rights. He learned from many great speakers of his time, but ultimately found that he had a way of thinking all his own. After becoming a teacher of many, Athens started to fear and hate Socrates for the thought that he was “Poisoning their children’s mind”. At the trial of the century the prosecutors, Meletus, Lycon, and Anytus faced Socrates. Socrates spoke to the jurors that he had done nothing wrong and that he leaves his fate in the Athens god and in the people of the jury.
Socrates was genuinely worried about why the young men were so disappointing. Socrates' young students had been a particular disappointment to him. If Socrates could figure out exactly how the fathers had failed to properly educate their sons, he could save the city and restore Athens to its former glory. Socrates’ interesting idea was that human excellence was really a kind of knowledge. Sophists were skilled in elaborate argumentation; were they would try and make the argument they were focusing on the stronger side, even if it was wrong or weaker.
Plato regarded this conviction as unjust, and as this conviction was made under a democratic government, democracy was also unjust. Furthermore, Plato regarded the democratic state as inefficient, most due to the democratic state being unrepresentative. For instance, although people would be able to vote on the decisions that affected the state, this principle did not apply to women or slaves as they were prohibited to vote. Also, only young rich males would be able to vote as they were the only criteria of people who were eligible by gender and could take the time off to vote. The very definition of democracy is “rule of the people”, not “rule of a specific criteria of people”, thus democracy was not properly enforced, thus not efficient.
Essentially, Socrates stated that he did not possess wisdom, like sophists believe they possess, but only human wisdom, which implies the fact that he knew that he knew nothing at all. First of all in this excerpt, Socrates addressed a counter-argument to his self-proclaimed innocence, in which his fellow civilians questioned his occupation. It was common knowledge that Socrates spent most of his time around the marketplace discussing a plethora of concepts and questioning people on whichever topic he desired. Thus, the public believed that he was nothing more than a traveling sophist, trying to obtain money in exchange for his knowledge; such activities were not deemed completely reputable or acceptable in common Athenian society and were characteristic of sophists. He continued to refute this assertion by making a slightly sarcastic, presumptuous joke at the public’s expense, “Listen then...some of you will think I am jesting, but be sure that all I say is true.” This quote can be perceived as a stab at the ‘inferior argument’ strategy, for which sophists are famous.
The Charges against Socrates In Apology from Plato, Socrates is confronted with some charges from two groups of accusers. The first group of accusers says that Socrates is “guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth.” (Plato 19b) Also, they add up that “he makes the worse into the stronger argument, and he teaches these same things to others.” (Plato 19b) The second group of accusers alleges Socrates’ guilt as “guilty of corrupting the young and of not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other new spiritual things.” (Plato 24b-c) These are the charges against Socrates from Apology. When the first group of accusers charges against Socrates, they identify Socrates as a natural philosopher by “a person who studying things in the sky and below the earth.” (Plato 19b) In Socrates’ time, everything was started and ended by gods because Athenian people told stories of gods and made themselves in terms of gods. In Athenian society, the gods were the most powerful being because they created, fashioned, and ruled the world. However, some Greek philosophers were not happy with it, and they started paying tribute to natural processes when they recognized that the natural processes or elemental processes had been upon the earth.