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Socrates Arguments In Plato's Apology

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Apology is commonly defined as a regretful acknowledgement or offering remorse. However, in the story written by Plato it offers a different definition, a reasoned argument or writing in justification of something or a defense. In the Apology, Socrates is at trial in which he is charged with not recognizing the gods recognized by the state, inventing new deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens. Overall, Socrates offers a insubstantial apology or defense for himself by being contradictory and refusing to change.
“The Apology” recreates the speech Socrates gave during his trial. While on trail Socrates was being charged with corrupting the youth by Meletus. Meletus claims: “Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying …show more content…

His overconfidence in himself can be seen through his utilization of idle arguments. He starts with the horse breeder argument, which is an argument by analogy, to compare corrupters and improvers of society. Essentially it translates to: anyone who uses a horse is essentially corrupting it, while very few improve it with the main improvers being horse breeders. Thus, signifying that there are more corrupters than improvers. In Socrates’ defense, since he is only one man, it would likely take more than just him to corrupt the youth. However, it is not a convincing point because he is essentially saying he isn’t the only one corrupting the youth, so why charge him? Then, he leads into his corruption argument where he states ,“ but either I corrupt them, or I corrupt them unintentionally, so that on either view you lie.” Whether corruption is intentional or not, wrong is wrong. It is like going before a judge saying you didn’t intend to murder someone, but you just so happened to do so. Intentional or unintentional, one would still be found guilty. Throughout the text, Socrates contradicts himself. At first he claims he does not teach the youth of Gods then admits to teaching, but since he is not being paid he denies being a teacher. He feels it would be wrong to disobey the will of Apollo and stop philosophizing, so he would be foolish

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