Socrates: A Greek Philosopher and a Master of Verbal Trickery

Socrates, a Greek philosopher from Athens, was born in the year 469 B.C. According to Solomon, Higgins & Martin (2012), Socrates was describes as” shiftless” and a master of verbal trickery, but his students still virtually worshipped him and described him as, “the bravest, most wise and most upright man of our times.” Socrates preached to his students and the city of Athens that virtue, moral excellence or what is right, was the highest ideal (Solomon, Higgins & Martin, 2012). Throughout his trial and death his ideas and theories were written down in dialogues by his pupil Plato, In “The Apology” and “The Crito.”
In “The Apology,” Socrates had been put to trial and is charged for corrupting the youth of Athens, and not believing in the gods of the city; he is then sentenced to death, but at his trial he argued against who condemned him (Solomon, Higgins & Martin, 2012). His argument was, either he was corrupting the youth, or if he was corrupting the youth, he was doing it involuntarily. Without clearly saying what he had to say he tried to explain through questions. In “The Apology” he asked, is it better to live among good citizens or among bad citizens, doesn’t the bad do some evil to those who are with them, and is there anyone who prefers to be injured? The meaning to all these questions is, Socrates wouldn’t want to develop bad youth citizens that are close to him who would then be able to hurt him.
Socrates, In “The Apology,” finds it just to accept his sentence of death, despite the fact that he could easily show the sentence itself to be unjust. Socrates believes that if he dies defending what he believed was right his words would hold more value than ever before. Accepting his death when given the opportunity to escape would make it easier for his students to then test the people of city of Athens in the future.

In “The Crito,” Crito bribed one of the guards and tried to convince Socrates to escape prison, but Socrates argued back using