Traditional Minds In Plato's The Apology

Although the word "apology" comes from the Greek word, apología, the meaning has changed. In Plato’s rendition of what happened, Socrates was not apologizing or making excuses. He wasn't sorry. The Greek word apología simply and precisely meant a defense, or a defense speech. In attempting to unravel the purpose of his defense, it is easy to dismiss Socrates as a sociopath who was tired of life and legitimately wished to die. However, I don’t think this was the case. I believe that the central theme in The Apology is to bluntly defend philosophy against the insecure arguments of “traditional” minds. Before I present my argument, it is worth noting that The Apology was not transcribed verbatim, it is a drama reconstructed by Plato, his student, someone who idolized him as the ideal philosopher. He crafted an image of Socrates that places him as the canonical example of how a philosopher should live and die. Whether this is a portrayal that resembles the original experience is up for debate. Either way, there are important lessons to be learned, and valuable insights into how we should live our best lives.

My parents were avid church goers, me and my brother were both altar boys, and we had the priest over for dinner every other week. Everything was peaceful until I began thinking for myself. I forced myself to question everything that I had been taught. Not necessarily to move away from the only god that I knew, but to question why I believed him in the first place. I began asking questions at youth group, and started find logic gaps in what I was being taught. Quickly, members of my community took this as defiance. My arguments questioned the very essence of what the senior people in our congregation preached without