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Socrates: The Corruption Of Athenian Democracy

1140 Words5 Pages

According to Socrates perspective, the democracy of Athens was corrupt and even though they courts were made in such a way that everyone was judged fairly, it wasn’t such because there were no rules or principles set forth. When a person was brought to court in the Athenian court and the person spoke against the jurors or offended them, he or she could be prosecuted based on that. In summary, judgment was passed based on emotion rather than on justice.
In the Apology, Socrates stated, “my present request seems a just one, for you to pay no attention to my manner of speech- be it better or worse.” (Plato, 18a). In this statement, Socrates tells the jurors to pardon if he offends then and at the same tells them to not focus their attention on …show more content…

Socrates sees himself as wiser than other men including the politicians, craftsmen, and poets because he did not go around thinking he knew what he did not know. As a result of this, his character reflected someone who saw himself as superior to others and instead of feeding that ego, he could have been a joined politics and have an influence on the Athenian democracy. If he had done this, people like Meletus and his later accusers would have taken his criticism in a positive way.
Socrates has the right to criticize the democracy of Athens because, in his perspective, verdicts are passed in the court by jurors with respect to whoever seems good to him. The democracy of the people was biased because, even if a person was wrong in court, he would not receive the right punishment her deserved because of his relations with the jurors. In such a democracy, the people who were in higher ranks could get away easily with crimes and wrongful acts because most of the jurors in the room were of the same ranks as the accused so he would receive favor from …show more content…

With this statement, Plato was addressing the jurors and people gathered around during his trial about how the law isn’t used as a way to make sure that justice is carried out anymore because men have been blinded by the power given to them to pass verdicts without paying attention to whether it corresponded to the law of the land. Once again, it can be seen that just like Socrates told the judges how to do their job, he 's telling the jurors how to perform their

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