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Socrates As Depicted In Plato's Apology

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In Plato’s dialogue Apology, Socrates is standing trial for two crimes; impiety and corrupting the youth. During the three speeches Socrates delivers during his trial he discusses why he is fearless when faced with many of the things humans fear most, including being hated, accused of serious crimes, being threatened with punishment, and being put to death. Being Hated To begin, Socrates does not fear being hated because he understands that the reason why he is disliked is due to his attempt to understand the underlying meaning behind the Oracle of Delphi’s prophecy. When Socrates addresses the anticipated questions about his reputation, he tells the jury the story of his friend Chaerephon who went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked if …show more content…

At the beginning of Socrates first speech, he states to the jury that there have been numerous individuals who have accused him of crimes over many years and that none of these accusations are true (18b). In order to prove himself innocent to the jury, Socrates dissects the accusations against him of corrupting the youth and impiety point by point (24c). Socrates first addresses one of Meletus’ accusations against him, corrupting the youth. After using the Socratic Method and analyzing Meletus’ argument for the jury, Socrates states that he does not believe Meletus’ accusations to be true and he does not believe the jury will either (25e). Through examining Meletus’s accusation Socrates comes to two conclusions, one is that he is not corrupting the youth; the second is that he is corrupting the youth but he is doing so unwillingly and therefore should not be charged, brought to trial, or punished but instructed on how to prevent it from continuing to happen (26a). Additionally, Socrates continues to use the Socratic Method to examine the second accusation against him from Meletus, impiety. Socrates asks Meletus many questions regarding his accusation and Meletus eventually admits to the jury that Socrates believes in spirits and that spirits are gods or their children (27d). Socrates then states that there is no way that the jury would believe that a

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