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How Did Socrates Attempt To Appease The Apology

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In this paper I will examine why Socrates did not attempt to appease the jury in his Apology. Socrates is put on trial for corrupting the youth and believing in gods other than the gods of the city. I believe he chose not to appease the jury for three reasons: he is a man of pride, he does not fear death and additionally finds it shameful to fear death.
Socrates is a man of pride. He has passion for his beliefs and values, and would rather die than give them up. When presented with the idea of the jury releasing him he states “as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy” (Plato 32). This shows that Socrates does not believe what he has done and what he believes in is wrong; he will continue to do what he had been put on trial for if released. This is the exact opposite of what one would say to appease the jury. Socrates is on trial because some believe what he was doing was wrong, by refusing to acknowledge that he was wrong, this speech contradicts our modern day idea of an apology. …show more content…

He states that he nor anyone else should not fear that which they do not know. This is why he does not fear death and finds it foolish to do so. Socrates says “No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man” (Plato 32) and believes that to fear death is “to think oneself wise when one is not” (Plato 32). In this regard he states he is wiser than all men who fear death, for he does not know what death may hold and therefore does not fear it. With the belief of being the wisest of men, Socrates still does not know what will happen upon death; this ignorance may give way to curiosity about death. He may want to know what happens after death and knows there is only one way to find out. Socrates does however know death is inevitable and thus finds the avoidance of it to be

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For example, his demeanor in the face of near certain death seems unshakable. Although his death is foreshadowed many times, including in dreams, Socrates does not seek to avoid his fate. He is a firm believer in justice and the rule of law and order. He believes in these concepts to the extent that he does not seek to run and hide or seek any kind of protection in the face of certain death, rather he believes that he should accept whatever judgment is bestowed upon him because it is the just thing to do.

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230 Words | 1 Pages

In the Apology, drafted by Plato, contained within the First Year Seminar anthology, the main character Socrates was convicted of several offenses. One was that “Socrates was guilty of wrongdoing in that he busied himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he made the worse into the stronger argument, and he taught these same things to others” (Belmont University, 2016). Socrates countered with the one defense that he gained this slander because he possessed a unique kind of wisdom that others envied. In essence, who were jealous of Socrates desired to drag his name through the mud.

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1314 Words | 6 Pages

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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Introduction The Apology was written by Plato, and relates Socrates’ defense at his trial on charges of corrupting the youth and impiety. Socrates argues that he is innocent of both charges. Plato reports the contents of three speeches delivered by Socrates in his own protection in court which has been arranged over him by the Athenian democrats and has terminated in the death sentence to the great philosopher. The word "apology" in a literal translation means "justification". Plato's purpose when writing "Apology" was to acquit posthumously Socrates from false accusation.

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This quotation is significant because it represents Socrates’ ideas about death. He believes that fearing the unknown is unreasonable because we don’t know what happens after death. Socrates also believes that “being dead is one of two things” (Socrates 58); either you feel nothing at all or it is a “journey from here to another place” (Socrates 59). Fearing something we don’t now is not going to get us anywhere except limit our potential. Although, death is a frightful concept, it might also be a good thing.

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288 Words | 2 Pages

Ultimately, Socrates is put to death because he attempts to transcend the parochial Athenian worldview in search of more universal truth. This is inherently threatening to the people of Athens who conceptualize a specific realm of appropriate questioning. (I would say Socrates-like questioning would be threatening to any society, including ours) Since Socrates is not fully in line with this bubble, the Athenian people project that "if you are not fully with us, you must be against us;" and therefore, Socrates is worthy of death. Plato's writings in The Symposium and The Republic helps us understand this dynamic In The Symposium, Socrates explains love in opposition to the way other Greek thinkers understood Eros.

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The first assumption he makes is that fear is rooted in certainty. In reality, the opposite tends to be true. The fear of uncertainty itself and the anxiety that comes with the unfamiliar is often more intense than the fear of death or dying. This fear is compounded by the fact that death, and the afterlife, is, in most western ideologies, including Socrates’s, a state that lasts infinitely. Additionally, in many other cases, we see fear originating from a place of uncertainty, rather than certainty.

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Now this is the hardest thing to make some of you believe. For if I say that such conduct would be disobedience to the god and that therefore I cannot keep quiet, you will think I am jesting and will not believe me” (Plato 37e). Socrates would rather die than make the mistake of accepting what the defense was hoping for. He did not want to plead and beg the jury, which would have resulted in Socrates not staying true to his beliefs. He also did not want to commit any unjust actions and stated that the government was powerful but it “didn’t frighten him into unjust action” (Plato 32d).

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Young people loved Socrates, “the invitation to think for themselves drew them to him, and parents feared the new and revolutionary doctrines that the might learn. He was judge by 501 citizens and condemn to death by a margin of 60, he could have exercised his legal privilege of proposing for a lower sentence and called for a vote on that, he instead insisted on being rational. Socrates spent his last night discussing philosophy with his young friends and pupils; the subject was life after death, he kept his mind open during the discussion and did no let his emotions influence his mind and thinking. Then hours before he drink the cup of poison his friends prepared themselves for the death of Socrates, soon after he drank the hemlock and minutes later he close his eyes.

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Socrates was a compelling Greek philosopher. He was perceived for his commitment to the field of morals and the utilization of the Socratic technique in open deliberation to conjure basic thinking and to draw out thoughts. One of his well known understudies, Plato, gave an Apology (a record or discourse of protection) of Socrates in which he portrays Socrates as a man that contributes the best conceivable incentive to the group, yet his endeavors had driven him to his death by the hands of the general population he served. In spite of the commitments, the general population saw that had tainted the adolescent (Brand, n.d., pp. 35). On account of his character in which he doubted for all intents and purposes everything (i.e. basic considering),

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1021 Words | 5 Pages

In Apology, Socrates faces possible execution as he stands trial in front of his fellow Athenian men. This jury of men must decide whether Socrates has acted impiously against the gods and if he has corrupted the youth of Athens. Socrates claims in his defense that he wants to live a private life, away from public affairs and teachings in Athens. He instead wants to focus on self-examination and learning truths from those in Athens through inquiry. Socrates argues that "a [man] who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if [he] is to survive for even a short time" (32a).

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519 Words | 3 Pages

After Socrates is condemned to death, he makes his final statements to the jury at the end of “The Apology”. This portion of the text clearly expresses his deeply held believes and seemed the most honest to me, as he was no longer reciting his defense in court but had already acknowledged and accepted his fate. Paragraph 39a eloquently describes why Socrates valued just action over his own life. He claims that if someone is “shameless enough” to defy their own principles, avoiding death is easily accomplished. The more difficult struggle that plagues us is “escaping villainy”, which he has completed by facing his punishment.

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872 Words | 4 Pages

Even though Socrates provides two options for what death is, no one knows what death truly is. Socrates simply assumes that we cannot fear what we do not know for certain; when in reality it is perfectly rational to fear death, even if it is a good thing. I found that he assumes that death, even including the complete end of existence, is not a bad thing because we do not know what it is – it is ignorant to fear the

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530 Words | 3 Pages

Socrates is discovered blameworthy by a limited edge and is requested that propose a punishment. Socrates facetiously proposes that if he somehow happened to get what he merits, he ought to be regarded with an awesome feast for being of such support of the state. On a more genuine note, he rejects jail and outcast, offering maybe rather to pay a fine. At the point when the jury rejects his proposal and sentences him to death, Socrates stoically acknowledges the decision with the perception that nobody yet the divine beings comprehend what happens after death thus it is silly to dread what one doesn't have the foggiest idea. He likewise cautions the jurymen who voted against him that in hushing their pundit instead of listening to him, they have

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232 Words | 1 Pages

Socrates is a key person of Athens and when he was charged guilty with the possibility of being executed, he wasn’t worried. Rather, he stayed true to himself and stuck to what he believed in. Socrates tries to protect the citizens of Athens by not angering the gods, “that you may not sin against the God by condemning me,” (104). Being a “gift to you [citizens of Athens]” Socrates wants people to think about what will happen to the city once he is gone, whether it will be better or worse (105). However with the way he states he is needed by the city, he tries to convince people that they will sin by going against him.

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