society.
society.
Athenians live as the society tells them to live, and they follow their own traditions, customs, and morals of the rest of the people. Socrates has never forced Athenians to follow his teachings, on the contrary he lets them do it without getting anything in return. He states “And I cannot justly be held responsible for the good or bad conduct of these people, as I never promised to teach them anything.” (33a-b) He doesn’t directly influence society, he tries to make them aware of their lack of knowledge; it then becomes their responsibility to fill the void exposed by Socrates. Therefore, he believes they have not examined their own lives. Socrates believes an examined life is one that is reflective, where we examine actions on the basis of…
Socrates was the original philosopher. Socrates dies from headlock, he had the choice to live a lonely life with food and water or to take the poison and he picked the headlock, because He believed the search for truth would lead to proper conduct. “The unexamined life is not worth living”, that was the quote that Socrates believed by saying that the purpose of life was personal and spiritual growth. Considered the nature of beauty, knowledge and what is right. His method was to ask questions, to try to expose the flaws in his fellow Athenians' preconceived notions. Socrates went on to teach Plato, the next great Athenian philosopher.…
I believe that Socrates has made the absolute most just decision with everything he could have done. It still remains remarkable to me that he had turned down such an easy and pleasant life of exile to take on his execution that he is innocent for. Although it seems like such a hard thing to pass on, I know I would have done the exact same thing after some deep thought about how it would impact myself along with the rest of the community. I fully stand behind Socrates’ decision by staying in prison and taking on his…
He believes that these laws has given him birth, have educated him, raised him and have shared the wealth of Athens with him. Socrates thinks that the people of Athens are free to leave if they find the laws unjust, but if they want to stay then they must abide by the laws of Athens. The only thing that he points out are the people in power. He thinks that the people who are in power have changed the original laws for their own benefit. “been wronged, not by the Laws, but by men” (p 54). Socrates accepts death penalty because he wants the laws should be remain in place. Given opportunities such as exile or apology, he argues that if he escape from the prison, it will destroy the laws of the city and, eventually, the city because according to Socrates no city can survive without its laws being enforced. Therefore, Socrates steadfast by his believes of not violating any…
Socrates wants to sharpen iron with iron when he questions them, not degrade them. Moreover, the truthfulness of a society can reveal much about its character. Lastly, any form of punishment besides death would just result in a greater audience listening to him. But let’s be clear, people aren’t just listening to Socrates because he is questioning the…
Is Socrates actually guilty of either of the crimes with which he is charged: impiety and corrupting the youth? Are these crimes dangerous for a political community? Is Socrates, in his Apology, fully persuasive that he and his way of life pose no threat to the city? (To answer these questions, you will need to ask yourself what is the foundation for Athenian or, indeed, any political society.)…
Another good Socrates valued was love. Some people say that Socrates was not a lover as he did not love his children. In ‘The Trial and Death of Socrates’ it is evident that he leaves his children behind and even asks the jurymen to test his own children when they grow up. It seems cruel to leave behind his children and even have them tested. To the majority, it seems that Socrates do not love. However, this is not true. Socrates has a different idea of love compared to the majority’s idea of love. Majority thinks that caring and being there for one another is love, but that kind of love dies out with death. According to Diotima in the ‘Symposium’ love is the appreciation of beauty. Socrates wanted to give this Diotima’s love to his children…
Why, in a society relishing freedom and democracy, would a seventy-year-old philosopher be executed for what he was teaching? What could Socrates have done to prompt a jury of 500 Athenians send him to his death just a few years before he would have died naturally? He was charged with not believing in the gods worshipped by the city, introducing new divinities and for corrupting the youth. Socrates was a freethinker who went around Athens probing his fellow Athenians with questions and dialectal interrogations about religion and politics. He held contemporary views, that when he expressed them, provoked his listeners to anger. In 423 B.C., Socrates produced a play called Clouds, which at the time proved to be no threat to Athenian values and democracy. Characters in the play were taught how strengthen weak arguments by learning rhetorical skills and trickery and innovative divinities were introduced. However in 399 B.C., Socrates was charged with impiety. This was not the only charge brought against this philosopher; he was also accused for corrupting adolescences, Alcibiades and Critias. Should he have been condemned to death over such charges? Although religion and the state were central to ancient Athenian law, Socrates was executed unjustly.…
In the case of Socrates I believe him breaking the law was justifiable, although I don’t…
Socrates lived during a time period where the transition from the height of the Athenian empire to its decline took place. Such a decline took place at the hands of Sparta where Athenians faced defeat in the Peloponnesian war (2006). Thus this was a time period where the Athenians were recovering from the humiliating defeat from Sparta. This was also a time in culture where Greeks believed and thought of gods and goddesses as being associated with protecting particular cities. They believed that Athens was protected by the Greek goddess Athena (2006). These aspects have great significance in shaping up the death of Socrates. Because most of the teachings and beliefs of Socrates went against the belief of Athena and her godly existence, the people of Athens became quite irritated and frustrated with Socrates. The last thing they desired was to have one man in the form of Socrates questioning Athena and subjecting all Athenians to yet another painful punishment at her hands. Thus the entire false accusations were built around this aspect and Socrates was brought to trial. (2006). Even though Socrates had strong valid arguments against the accusers it all fell in deaf ears and the unfortunate, wrong verdict was brought forward declaring that Socrates is guilty and that he was to be sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock. The court stated that Socrates was…
Even though Socrates is proven guilty he has no regrets. He believes he did nothing wrong and is happy to share his knowledge with people. Socrates says, “is not to avoid death but to avoid unrighteousness.”(168-169) In this he is saying he is not upset about dying and he did the right in life. Again he shows this is true when he says, “I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner of life.”(163) He’s saying again he did the right thing and rather die than not have shared his knowledge and be a wise man. Socrates makes it clear he did the right thing in life, at least what he thinks the right thing is. He wants to help people in his life and succeeded in doing so, so he is not afraid of death. He is smart and wise and wants to keep teaching his knowledge. He states this when he says “ You will not easily find another like me, and therefore I advise you to spare me.”(110-111) Socrates makes it clear teaching his believes was obviously not a crime and has no regrets of doing so.…
Socrates, one of the greatest minds go Ancient Greece’s was no exception. As a sophist, Socrates was considered a teacher of the noble. Sophist of Greed taught young men ’arete’: excellence or virtue for a price. However, Socrates wasn’t a regular sophist, he never accepted any monetary reward for his ’teachings“ (b316,p813) and he never actually taught anything but rather trained minds to think. Socrates states at the trail that he doesn’t have any true knowledge and he believed that in order to have any true knowledge one must be able to produce a single, clear definition of a subject without any exclusions to the rule, something that he was never able believed that he couldn’t do.Rather than use he own opinions to teach his pupils what to think, Socrates used ”systematic questioning“ (b136p813) to help clear their own minds and reach their own conclusions just by thinking. A skill that they could carry forward, into their lives as Athenian citizens. With this in mind, it is nearly impossible for the Athenians government to find Socrates guilty of…
Since Athenians were so close minded, they out casted anyone that didn't conform to their traditions. They should have been open to anything and not simply dislike a person or a situation because it didn’t follow their ideals. Socrates’ trial eventually led to his death and this illustrates that everyone has limitations. We can’t reject what we were taught or certain laws in society just because we don’t agree. Society functions because we work together and change together not because we do what we want. Furthermore, when Socrates was on trial he made a point to say that the democracy was poison to the people. Yet when his friend Crito offers him an escape from his death he denies the offer because he believes it is unjust to not face his execution. There are many theories behind why Socrates said no since he didn’t support the democracy; I believe it is because he had an open mind. (Crito,76-77). Yes, him being open-minded lead to his death; however, it indicates that he understood limitations of the law and respected societies perspectives.…
In the trial of Socrates I am going to show that the defendant is not guilty on the first charge of corrupting the youth. My justifications for this vote are as follows. Socrates didn't corrupt the youth, he just shared his ideas with them and they in turn chose the path to take these ideas.…
The first premise that Socrates presented to support his choice of staying in prison was “that some opinions, and the opinions of some men only, are to be valued, and other opinions, and the opinions of other men, are not to be valued.” He formed this premise in response to Crito’s reason to why Socrates should escape the prison with him. The reason is that the people will think that Crito values money more than friendship, and people will also think that Socrates is betraying his life and his children. Although it may sound like a convincing argument on Crito’s behalf, it’s not in Socrates habits to listen and comply right away; he likes to either persuade or be persuaded with better reasoning. So Socrates adds more details to his premise…