Socrates 'The Apology'

Socrates is an excellent speaker, a sophist and a hypocrite. He claims that he is the sophist by distinguishing himself from them as we see in lines “I would pride and preen myself if I had this knowledge, but I do not have it” (Plato, “The Apology”, p.4, 20c). He claims that Evenus, the sophist man, who teaches sons of Callias, possesses wisdom that Socrates himself does not possess. It arouses the conviction that he was a hypocrite, as his words contradict each other, as we see in the third paragraph. Socrates’ word play is so accomplished that we can’t say he is a bad speaker as he himself claims (Plato, “The Apology”, p.3. 17b) Socrates himself did not documented any of his dialogues or thoughts. We only assess this philosopher by other’s records and observations. One of the most significant speeches of him was “The Apology” by Plato. This speech has that much significance not because there described the death penalty passed against Socrates, but because in that dialogue Socrates appears to us as enigmatic and ironic. He is inconceivable, because we can not really conceive

As we know, the oracle which “does not lie” (Plato, “The Apology”, p.5, 21b) asserts that “no one was wiser” (Plato, “The Apology”, p.5, 21a) than Socrates. Socrates himself reaffirms that claim saying that he possesses that “human wisdom”, which was the origin of his reputation (Plato, “The Apology”, p.5, 20d). During his investigation in attempts to refute that he is the wisest, or maybe to confirm, he goes to the public men. Socrates then founds out that he is “wiser than this man” (Plato, “The Apology”, p.5, 21c). Same story happens with the poets and the craftsmen. We can clearly make an outcome – Socrates is the wisest of all, according to the Delphi and his inquiries. The tricky thing that arouses suspicion of belonging to sophism is that then Socrates says that he is “not wise at all” (Plato, “The Apology”, p.5,