New Charges In Plato's Apology
In Plato's Apology, Socrates a philosopher is standing trial for charges that are not easily proven. Socrates has two sets of charges brought against him the “old” charges that Socrates claims that have been talked about for a very long time “there are many of these accusers, and they have been accusing me for a long time now.”(Plato 18c) His second set of charges known as the “new’ charges represent more straight forward claims. New charges called onto Socrates is that he is guilty of corrupting the youth as well as not believing in the gods in which the city chooses to believe in. Despite accusation for many of these false crimes Socrates is allowed a chance to argue his position against his accusers, which is what Socrates does best. However
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despite his efforts he still remains guilty at the end of the trial. The first charges brought forward to Socrates are that of “Socrates does injustice and is meddlesome, by investigation the things under the earth and the heavenly things, and by making the weaker speech stronger, and by teaching others these same things.”(Plato 19b-c) The claims stem from a popular comedy of Aristophanes which portrayed a dumb man who thought he knew everything which was loosely based on Socrates. This lead to many people looking down on Socrates without even knowing anything about him. Socrates claims that many of the people who have brought about these charges simply believe that he is guilty due to the fact that they were taught that he was a bad man at a very young age by there parents. “they spoke to you at the Clark 2 age when you were most trusting, when some of you were children and youths, and they accused me in a case that simply went by default, for no one spoke in my defense.”(Plato 18c) Socrates is very frustrated about the fact that he is being hated simply for no reason. People in Athens have always thought of him as just an oddball character meandering around the streets leading to such a strong bias without truly any cause. Socrates after being presented with the old charges is then given a chance to defend himself in front of his accusers, during which he tells the story of the Oracle at Delphi and his quest for the discovery of human wisdom. Chaerephon went to consult the Oracle at Delphi and asked if anyone was wiser than Socrates, the Oracle replied “no one was wiser” (Plato 21a) This concerned Socrates because he didn't feel like he had any special wisdom yet he knew that the Oracle could not lie. This led him on a quest to truly discover what human wisdom was and how someone could obtain it. However during his quest he found that by quizzing the educated elite in Athens and proving to them they actually know nothing that true human wisdom is hard to obtain. For example Socrates said in speaking of quizzing a very influential politician “it seemed to me that this man seemed to be wise, both to many other human beings and most of all to himself, but that he was not.” (Plato 21c) After quizzing this influential politician Socrates realizes that the politician is not in fact wise and in turn shows him that he is actually quite stupid. This leads to the politician and many other on lookers to become very hateful towards Socrates. Socrates actually does this to many of the educated elite in front of large crowds of people. This is why Socrates believes the old charges are brought against him, people are mad that Socrates has the ability to prove them wrong as well as be wrong himself. Clark 3 Socrates is also on trial for the “new” charges which are, guilty of corrupting the youth as well as guilty of not believing in the gods the city believes in, but in other spiritual things. He also has a chance to defend himself in front of the court and counter the new charges. His main accuser in terms of the new charges is Meletus. Socrates in his counter of the “new” charges poses 3 arguments to his accuser Meletus who he calls to the stand for a sort of cross examination in todays terms.
In his first argument in regards of him corrupting the youth Socrates says “But the one who makes them better-come, tell them and reveal to them who it is.” (Plato 24d) Meletus states that everyone who isn't Socrates has been only beneficial to the youth. Socrates proves this to be untrue using a horse trainer analogy that says only horse trainers can improve a horses behavior and such should be applied to the youth how could someone with no specialization in teaching the youth actually help the youth which disproves Meletus first accusation that everyone helps the youth besides Socrates. Socrates next confronts the charge in which he is detrimental to society. Meletus still on the stand gets asked by Socrates how he can be detrimental to society if he himself actually is apart of society. Why would he voluntary hurt himself as he regards this as foolish as no person in there right mind would cause harm to themselves. Socrates then goes on to point out one who unintentionally does harm as Meletus suggested should be taught on how to not do harm instead of just being punished for
it. The third argument proposed by Socrates to Meletus is that since Meletus claims Socrates does not believe in any gods. Socrates then goes on to prove to the jury that he must believe in gods of some sort. He suggests that believing in Human matters would be impossible to believe in without believing in humans themselves. “Is there anyone who believes in daimonic matters, Clark 4 but doesn't believe in daimons?” (Plato 27b) He applies this directly to the claim that he believes in supernatural matters which means he must believe in supernatural beings, this is a complete reversal of what Meletus is saying because according the Socrates the only supernatural beings are gods which if he believes in supernatural matters he must believe in the gods themselves completely contradicting Meletus’s earlier claims that say he does not believe in the gods of the state. Despite Socrates strong arguments he was unable to persuade the jury to vote him innocent. He did however lose by a smaller margin than he anticipated. Socrates was eventually found guilty and put to death for the “crimes” in which he was guilty of.
despite his efforts he still remains guilty at the end of the trial. The first charges brought forward to Socrates are that of “Socrates does injustice and is meddlesome, by investigation the things under the earth and the heavenly things, and by making the weaker speech stronger, and by teaching others these same things.”(Plato 19b-c) The claims stem from a popular comedy of Aristophanes which portrayed a dumb man who thought he knew everything which was loosely based on Socrates. This lead to many people looking down on Socrates without even knowing anything about him. Socrates claims that many of the people who have brought about these charges simply believe that he is guilty due to the fact that they were taught that he was a bad man at a very young age by there parents. “they spoke to you at the Clark 2 age when you were most trusting, when some of you were children and youths, and they accused me in a case that simply went by default, for no one spoke in my defense.”(Plato 18c) Socrates is very frustrated about the fact that he is being hated simply for no reason. People in Athens have always thought of him as just an oddball character meandering around the streets leading to such a strong bias without truly any cause. Socrates after being presented with the old charges is then given a chance to defend himself in front of his accusers, during which he tells the story of the Oracle at Delphi and his quest for the discovery of human wisdom. Chaerephon went to consult the Oracle at Delphi and asked if anyone was wiser than Socrates, the Oracle replied “no one was wiser” (Plato 21a) This concerned Socrates because he didn't feel like he had any special wisdom yet he knew that the Oracle could not lie. This led him on a quest to truly discover what human wisdom was and how someone could obtain it. However during his quest he found that by quizzing the educated elite in Athens and proving to them they actually know nothing that true human wisdom is hard to obtain. For example Socrates said in speaking of quizzing a very influential politician “it seemed to me that this man seemed to be wise, both to many other human beings and most of all to himself, but that he was not.” (Plato 21c) After quizzing this influential politician Socrates realizes that the politician is not in fact wise and in turn shows him that he is actually quite stupid. This leads to the politician and many other on lookers to become very hateful towards Socrates. Socrates actually does this to many of the educated elite in front of large crowds of people. This is why Socrates believes the old charges are brought against him, people are mad that Socrates has the ability to prove them wrong as well as be wrong himself. Clark 3 Socrates is also on trial for the “new” charges which are, guilty of corrupting the youth as well as guilty of not believing in the gods the city believes in, but in other spiritual things. He also has a chance to defend himself in front of the court and counter the new charges. His main accuser in terms of the new charges is Meletus. Socrates in his counter of the “new” charges poses 3 arguments to his accuser Meletus who he calls to the stand for a sort of cross examination in todays terms.
In his first argument in regards of him corrupting the youth Socrates says “But the one who makes them better-come, tell them and reveal to them who it is.” (Plato 24d) Meletus states that everyone who isn't Socrates has been only beneficial to the youth. Socrates proves this to be untrue using a horse trainer analogy that says only horse trainers can improve a horses behavior and such should be applied to the youth how could someone with no specialization in teaching the youth actually help the youth which disproves Meletus first accusation that everyone helps the youth besides Socrates. Socrates next confronts the charge in which he is detrimental to society. Meletus still on the stand gets asked by Socrates how he can be detrimental to society if he himself actually is apart of society. Why would he voluntary hurt himself as he regards this as foolish as no person in there right mind would cause harm to themselves. Socrates then goes on to point out one who unintentionally does harm as Meletus suggested should be taught on how to not do harm instead of just being punished for
it. The third argument proposed by Socrates to Meletus is that since Meletus claims Socrates does not believe in any gods. Socrates then goes on to prove to the jury that he must believe in gods of some sort. He suggests that believing in Human matters would be impossible to believe in without believing in humans themselves. “Is there anyone who believes in daimonic matters, Clark 4 but doesn't believe in daimons?” (Plato 27b) He applies this directly to the claim that he believes in supernatural matters which means he must believe in supernatural beings, this is a complete reversal of what Meletus is saying because according the Socrates the only supernatural beings are gods which if he believes in supernatural matters he must believe in the gods themselves completely contradicting Meletus’s earlier claims that say he does not believe in the gods of the state. Despite Socrates strong arguments he was unable to persuade the jury to vote him innocent. He did however lose by a smaller margin than he anticipated. Socrates was eventually found guilty and put to death for the “crimes” in which he was guilty of.