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Apology And Phaedo: The Personal Philosophy Of Socrates

1148 Words5 Pages

Connor R. Kremer
Dr. Jane Frazier
ENG-320-01
14 February 2023
The Personal Philosophy of Socrates The philosophical influence of Socrates is almost incomparable to that of any other philosopher. His teachings and those of his students have changed how humans think, theorize, and communicate with others. However, the Ancient Greeks that lived alongside Socrates did not appreciate his contemporary conversations on morality. “Apology” and “Phaedo” entail the two most important moments in Socrates’ life and legacy. Both compositions are substantial accounts of modern Socratic concepts, which have influenced philosophy worldwide. They establish the benevolence of Socrates’ character and the ethics and morals he inspired. Specifically, Socrates’ …show more content…

This composition discusses Socrates’ ideas about the concepts of death, the afterlife, and the immortality of the soul. First, Socrates argues that the soul is separate from the body. This leads to his conclusion that death is only the end of the body, not the soul. Moreover, this explains why Socrates is not particularly fearful of death. He says, “The venture is a glorious one, and he ought to comfort himself…” (Plato 455). The “venture" he speaks of is the transition from life to death. Overall, “Phaedo" allows the reader to understand Socrates’ ideas about the soul, death, and what comes …show more content…

For example, in “Apology,” Socrates asks Socratic questions to defend himself (e.g., asking his interrogators about their logical flaws). One specific case involves his conversation with Meletus, one of his accusers. Socrates poses a long list of questions, starting with, “You think a great deal about the improvement of youth?" (Plato 439). This leads to Meletus' admission that Socrates’ outsmarted him and that he has no proof of his accusations. This process shows that Socrates valued critical thinking in every avenue—even for his enemy. The Socratic Method is still used in trials and interrogations

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The version of Socrates presented in both The Apology, Crito, and The Republic could very well be two different versions of Socrates as presented by Plato. However, both versions of Socrates have one thing in common: they both value the importance of philosophy and they both defend philosophy as something that is important to humanity. The Apology is Socrates defending not only himself, but also philosophy as an area of study that could be useful to the city of Athens. Socrates is trying to defend himself and his study and he tries to distance himself from the sophists in that they charge for money.

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With those two teachings, comes another one of his more deeply meaningful quotes “an unexamined life is not worth living for a human being”. This statement by Socrates is one that gets a human being to think about what he meant by what an examined life or unexamined life is. His quote is telling people to go through life and analyze and question things, because if not they have not lived life the way it should be for a human being. Without examining life, life would become a stagnant environment, never evolving from past cultures and past ideals.

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The Apology was supposed to represent Socrates' trial for his being a busybody and corrupting the youth. Socrates defended himself by saying that he was merely performing service to the god that said that he waswiser than anyone else. Socratesremained defiant during the sentencing portion of the trial, which led to him besentenced to death, and as such he had to face his mortality. In this paper, I will explain how he came to this conclusion,and show why this conclusion is false. At many points throughout the Apology, Socrates insists that death is not bad.

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Socrates was a greek philosopher who found himself in trouble with his fellow citizens and court for standing his grounds on his new found beliefs from his studies about philosophical virtue, justice, and truth. In “Apology” written by Plato, Socrates defended himself in trial, not with the goal of escaping the death sentence, but with the goal of doing the right thing and standing for his beliefs. With this mindset, Socrates had no intention of kissing up to the Athenians to save his life. Many will argue that Socrates’ speech was not very effective because he did not fight for his life, he just accepted the death sentence that he was punished with. In his speech he said, “But now it’s time to leave, time for me to die and for you to live.”

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In “The Apology,” Socrates stands blamed for corrupting the young people of Athens and teaching the false divine beings, charges that eventually lead to his conviction. All through his defence, Socrates eagerly denies these allegations and declares that his activities are driven by a profound love for Athens. Accordingly, this paper is to dissect Socrates’ defence against the allegations introduced in “The Apology” and assess whether he really loved Athens by drawing bits of knowledge from both “The Apology” and “The Symposium.” In “The Apology,” Socrates justifies himself by using a mix of rationale, reason, and irony to address the allegations set out against him.

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The purpose behind Socrates cross-examination technique was to inquire and open a discussion based on asking and answering questions, to stimulate deeper thought and critical thinking of ideas discussed to counter the charges and make them seem invalid. The implementation of this cross-examination technique occurs when Socrates asks Meletus, “Tell me, my good sir, who improves our young men?”(Apology 24e). Meletus getting embarrassed in front of the jury by Socrates with the claims and comments like, “You see, Meletus, that you are silent and know not what to say” and simply answers, “The laws,” which was not a good enough answer to counter Socrates claims. At this point Socrates began to change the perspective of the trial with some simple intelligent questions. With the consistent questioning of Socrates, Meletus accepted that members of the assembly were all good influences on the youth, but considering the assembly admits all adult males, he mistakenly claims and admits that the entire population of Athens was a positive influence on the youth, except Socrates.

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