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Reading Response To Plato's 'The Apology'

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Noor Toshani Professor Strom-Olsen Political Theory I 28th September 2014 Reading Response – The Apology The Apology introduces us to Plato’s account of Socrates as he negotiates his life before an indictment placed upon him by Meletus, among others who were resentful and offended by Socrates’ defiance of their wisdom. Socrates’ charge is “corrupting
the young, and not believing in the gods in whom the
city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel.” (24b) When informed that he is indeed the wisest by the oracle, Socrates embarked on a journey to refute or confirm this prophecy, and in doing so, came to realize that he is not wisest because he knows all, but his wisdom stems from his recognition that he does not know what he does not know. His experimentations rewarded him with hate from those who were subjected to them and those surrounded by them. Youth became attracted to his examinations and began to carry out their own, thus irritating many. Socrates ponders that “those examined by them are angry at me, not at themselves, and they say that Socrates is someone most disgusting and that he corrupts the young.” (23c) …show more content…

“When the rulers whom you elected to rule me stationed me in Potidaea and Amphipolis and at Delium, I stayed then where
they stationed me and ran the risk of dying like anyone else.” (28d) He continues to uphold his position and belief that this is his divine calling when he says “I, men of Athens, salute you and love you, but I will
obey the god rather than you; and as long as I breathe and am
able to, I will certainly not stop philosophizing, and I will exhort
you and explain this to whomever of you I happen to meet, and I will speak just the sorts of things I am accustomed

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