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Traditional Minds In Plato's The Apology

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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. …show more content…

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

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The version of Socrates presented in both The Apology, Crito, and The Republic could very well be two different versions of Socrates as presented by Plato. However, both versions of Socrates have one thing in common: they both value the importance of philosophy and they both defend philosophy as something that is important to humanity. The Apology is Socrates defending not only himself, but also philosophy as an area of study that could be useful to the city of Athens. Socrates is trying to defend himself and his study and he tries to distance himself from the sophists in that they charge for money.

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911 Words | 4 Pages

A: III. The Apology of Plato: what was Socrates saying? A comparison and contrast of the rhetorical strategy of Socrates in FS 11, Plato’s Apology to the rhetorical strategy of the speaker in the Athenian law court speech you read for your report. Find all you can that is unconventional and counter conventional in what Socrates says.

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In this play the Socrates here doesn't sound like the Socrates from the Apology or the real life Socrates. The real Socrates doesn't actually teach per say, he teaches in a way that makes you yourself use your brain. He makes you question everything and understand things based on your own perception. The writer of this play clearly felt as if Socrates was a major problem in his society for allowing people to actually try to think outside of the box and ask questions. He most likely enjoyed the fact that everyone were robots and all thought alike and believed in the same thing because it brought no need to bring out discussion.

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In Plato’s Apology, Socrates finishes the trial stating once again that he has done nothing wrong. If his accusers believe Socrates sons care more about money or virtue, the accusers should treat his sons the same way he treated them. Socrates thinks that if his sons are treated like he treated others, that it would benefit them. This fits into the Apology because he has made many arguments as to why he isn’t wrong. Although he has now been sentenced to death, he still makes one last statement to show that he believes he has always been in the right.

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376 Words | 2 Pages

Plato’s Apology is in the words of Socrates. The apology explains what Socrates though of death as he awaited his death after being condemned for not believing in God. He believed after death, one would either go to another world or be in a state of nothingness. He had the theory of death being a place where one would learn about life and talk to people that no longer walk the Earth. He supports his argument that death is a gain by explaining that he, Socrates, will get to speak to famous poets and past heroes.

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1678 Words | 7 Pages

With the Apology, and the Crito, Socrates comes to delve into his many teachings and finds himself put to death with the words of wisdom that have been passed down generation after generation. Socrates for many in this present day is a man of many words and great teachings, but anyone but Socrates thought differently, in Athens people thought of him as an annoyance rather than an integral part of society. As Socrates stood in front of the counsel of judges, he stood for what he thought was right and never changed opinion of himself or of his words. That’s why Socrates is still talked about in classrooms everywhere today.

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1314 Words | 6 Pages

Socrates was a greek philosopher who found himself in trouble with his fellow citizens and court for standing his grounds on his new found beliefs from his studies about philosophical virtue, justice, and truth. In “Apology” written by Plato, Socrates defended himself in trial, not with the goal of escaping the death sentence, but with the goal of doing the right thing and standing for his beliefs. With this mindset, Socrates had no intention of kissing up to the Athenians to save his life. Many will argue that Socrates’ speech was not very effective because he did not fight for his life, he just accepted the death sentence that he was punished with. In his speech he said, “But now it’s time to leave, time for me to die and for you to live.”

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Introduction The Apology was written by Plato, and relates Socrates’ defense at his trial on charges of corrupting the youth and impiety. Socrates argues that he is innocent of both charges. Plato reports the contents of three speeches delivered by Socrates in his own protection in court which has been arranged over him by the Athenian democrats and has terminated in the death sentence to the great philosopher. The word "apology" in a literal translation means "justification". Plato's purpose when writing "Apology" was to acquit posthumously Socrates from false accusation.

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In this second quote, Socrates is saying that he possesses a certain wisdom given to him by the god to spread his philosophy and belief in the city of Athens. Here is a third piece of evidence to support my point from “ The Apology”. “Afterwards I went to talk to one person after another, sensing how odious I had become to them. I was sad and fearful; but I felt it was necessary to make the god’s work my highest priority.” (Lines 56-58)

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The importance of “The Apology” and Socrates is that he served as a symbol towards the fundamental question of the “why” in life. Socrates argues that in a society like Athens where the ability to ask these types of questions are denied, the overall happiness of its citizens will eventually perish. The reason being that material objects can only satisfy the soul for so long. This is why Socrates felt that it was his duty to remind the leaders of Athens of the importance of their humility. He chose to seek wisdom within himself

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One of the questions that I had concerning pages 3-4 of “The Apology” was why the people who Socrates engaged in conversation with became angry when he tried to prove that they weren’t wise. Many of these people were politicians, writers, and craftsmen who held a lot of power over, or were admired, by many people. When someone feels like their power is being threatened in any way, lashing out in anger is a natural and easy response. Their power mostly lied in their intelligence and characteristics that were uncommon during this time, such as being able to write and do pottery. When Socrates claimed that they weren’t as knowledgeable as they believed, These influential people overestimated their abilities not necessarily because they’re naturally

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1021 Words | 5 Pages

In Apology, Socrates faces possible execution as he stands trial in front of his fellow Athenian men. This jury of men must decide whether Socrates has acted impiously against the gods and if he has corrupted the youth of Athens. Socrates claims in his defense that he wants to live a private life, away from public affairs and teachings in Athens. He instead wants to focus on self-examination and learning truths from those in Athens through inquiry. Socrates argues that "a [man] who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if [he] is to survive for even a short time" (32a).

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1376 Words | 6 Pages

The term “apology comes from the Greek word apologia which means to defend. In this essay I would like to explain why I believe that The Apology by Plato should be classified as pity and fear, in regards to Greek tragedy. I believe that this is true because I can personally empathize with Socrates; this will be discussed later on in this essay. A tragic hero is considered to be an individual with an intellectual flaw or error, Socrates fits this description; Socrates failed to understand that he could not empathize with the jurors because they simply wanted him to acknowledge his prior offenses, while he only sought out telling the truth and not sullying his own moral code. Socrates should be considered a tragic hero because he had an intellectual error, not an ethical one.

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1070 Words | 5 Pages

His personal defense is described in works two of his students: Xenophon and Plato. Both of them wrote papers called Apology, which is the Greek word for “defense”. In this essay I used Apology by Plato as the main resource, since it contents a more full account of the trial of Socrates and his words. Despite the fact that the philosopher attempted to defend himself and explain the reasons for saying and doing the things he did, it did not do any good for his justification. On the contrary, Socrates’ words seemed to make the jury harden their hearts and condemn him.

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What is exactly birth control? Birth-control is the act of preventing pregnancy. Matters including medications procedures devices and behaviors. Another word for birth control is contraception. There are some frequent debates should teenage girls be allowed to get birth control without permission from the parents?

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