Summary Of Socrates Argument For Meletus
Socrates’ argument for Meletus, Anytus and Lycon.
Meletus
Youth
Meletus, let me ask a question of you. Do you think a great deal of improvement of the youth?
Tell me then, who is their improver; as you have taken the pains to discover their corrupter. Speak now. Who improves the youth?
If he is silent: Observe, Meletus, that you are silent, Who improves the youth? Are you not interested in the matter? You must be
If he says the law, society or religion: But that sir was not my question; Who is the PERSON that improves the youth.
If he says: Judges, any citizen or not you: Are you trying to say that they are able to instruct and improve youth?
If he says yes: Do all of them improve the youth, or some and not others?
If he says not all …show more content…
of them: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If he says yes: Wow that is good news! There are plenty of improvers, then. And what do you say of the jury - do they improve them?
If he says no: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If he says yes: So you're saying that all 501 men in the jury improve the young?
If he says yes: So does one man, me, do them all harm, and everyone else good? How can this be true?
If he says yes: Does one man do them harm and the whole world do them good? Is that not the exact opposite of true?
If he says no: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If they say anything about atheism: That is an extraordinary statement. Why do you say that? Do you mean that I do not believe in the godhead of the sun or moon, which is the common religion of all men?
Anytus
Gods
Anytus, do you think pleasing the gods is important?
If yes: Well if pleasing the gods is important then who pleases them?
If athenian society: Sir that was not my question, WHO pleases the gods?
If a specific person: Does all of athens please the gods?
If type of people (like judges, carpenters, stone masons): Do all the _____s please the gods or just some of them?
If no: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If yes: So your telling me that all the ______s please the gods?
if no: Then why aren't they on trial?
If yes: Do all 501 jury men please the gods?
If yes: Does every man in athens please the gods?
If no: Then why aren't they on trial?
If yes: Does every man in athens please the gods?
If no: Then why aren't they on trial?
Rule of Thirty
Do you like the rule of thirty?
If you were in my shoes would you have saved Leon of Salamis?
So you're saying that you would have fought against the thirty tyrants to save Leon of Salamis?
Do you think that every athenian citizen would have fought for Leon of Salamis?
What do you think of mistakes?
Does everybody make mistakes?
Can you forgive someone who makes a mistake?
Would you consider me not saving Leon of Salamis a mistake?
If no:
Why?
If yes: Earlier you said you can forgive someone who makes a mistake, why is it can’t you forgive me?
Lycon
Democracy
Do you think Democracy is a good thing?
Why?
Do you think everyone has to believe in Democracy?
If so: Well is that a Democracy?
Then isn’t it a crime to believe in Democracy?
Do you think anything but Democracy is corrupt?
Do you think it is wrong to teach Democracy?
Well is that a Democracy?
Do you think it is corrupting the youth to teach them only Democracy?
What if Democracy fails, what would the youth do? Probably move out of athens, is that what you want?
What would happen if we teach our youth stuff besides Democracy? Our youth will be more prepared, is that a bad thing?
250 word essay needed to earn the badge.
Is it always OK to question those in authority? Never OK? How do you decide?
I think it is always OK to question authority but you can not be rude about it. If you would like to question authority don’t be disrespectful to your authority. In my opinion, questioning authority should sound something like “_______, I have been realizing that you have been doing a really good job leading me, but I would like to be able to do more things as I like.” As long as your authority does not lose respect for you, there is nothing wrong with questioning them. If your authority is corrupt then it is OK to be really blunt with them. Sometimes when an authority starts to be corrupt I do nothing about it, but later I wish that I had questioned them. One example of this is the time when I found an abandoned boat and later someone said that is was theirs, to see the whole story click the link below. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ugU2E8e7kFAlOcoN-MQqDGsJtrFg5-Gf6oCKPKX4MpM/edit?usp=sharing There are some people that should not have authority, as proved a couple years ago, at Acton Academy. It was the third year at Acton Academy, every year, we do something called Process Drama. Process Drama is an activity where students can express creativity through a program like acting. That year our question of the year was does power corrupt. So the guides decided to make our Process Drama about authority. Everything started out fine. The eagles were separated into two groups. Each group had to elect a leader for the day, but that was the tricky part as we would soon find out. The second day of Process Drama started out OK but as the hour progressed we began to realize that our leader had some personal biases against some of the other students. One mistake and you were sent to the “jail” (which was a cardboard box). Though the “jail” was made out of cardboard no one ever turned against the leader. Maybe they were too scared or maybe they thought that they would have to serve a sentence in the “jail” but the truth is a cardboard box is a cardboard box. The most important thing we took away from that experience was the answer to our question “Does Power Corrupt.” What was our answer? I will leave that to you.
Meletus
Youth
Meletus, let me ask a question of you. Do you think a great deal of improvement of the youth?
Tell me then, who is their improver; as you have taken the pains to discover their corrupter. Speak now. Who improves the youth?
If he is silent: Observe, Meletus, that you are silent, Who improves the youth? Are you not interested in the matter? You must be
If he says the law, society or religion: But that sir was not my question; Who is the PERSON that improves the youth.
If he says: Judges, any citizen or not you: Are you trying to say that they are able to instruct and improve youth?
If he says yes: Do all of them improve the youth, or some and not others?
If he says not all …show more content…
of them: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If he says yes: Wow that is good news! There are plenty of improvers, then. And what do you say of the jury - do they improve them?
If he says no: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If he says yes: So you're saying that all 501 men in the jury improve the young?
If he says yes: So does one man, me, do them all harm, and everyone else good? How can this be true?
If he says yes: Does one man do them harm and the whole world do them good? Is that not the exact opposite of true?
If he says no: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If they say anything about atheism: That is an extraordinary statement. Why do you say that? Do you mean that I do not believe in the godhead of the sun or moon, which is the common religion of all men?
Anytus
Gods
Anytus, do you think pleasing the gods is important?
If yes: Well if pleasing the gods is important then who pleases them?
If athenian society: Sir that was not my question, WHO pleases the gods?
If a specific person: Does all of athens please the gods?
If type of people (like judges, carpenters, stone masons): Do all the _____s please the gods or just some of them?
If no: Then how does that separate me from the other men that corrupt the young, and why are they not in trial?
If yes: So your telling me that all the ______s please the gods?
if no: Then why aren't they on trial?
If yes: Do all 501 jury men please the gods?
If yes: Does every man in athens please the gods?
If no: Then why aren't they on trial?
If yes: Does every man in athens please the gods?
If no: Then why aren't they on trial?
Rule of Thirty
Do you like the rule of thirty?
If you were in my shoes would you have saved Leon of Salamis?
So you're saying that you would have fought against the thirty tyrants to save Leon of Salamis?
Do you think that every athenian citizen would have fought for Leon of Salamis?
What do you think of mistakes?
Does everybody make mistakes?
Can you forgive someone who makes a mistake?
Would you consider me not saving Leon of Salamis a mistake?
If no:
Why?
If yes: Earlier you said you can forgive someone who makes a mistake, why is it can’t you forgive me?
Lycon
Democracy
Do you think Democracy is a good thing?
Why?
Do you think everyone has to believe in Democracy?
If so: Well is that a Democracy?
Then isn’t it a crime to believe in Democracy?
Do you think anything but Democracy is corrupt?
Do you think it is wrong to teach Democracy?
Well is that a Democracy?
Do you think it is corrupting the youth to teach them only Democracy?
What if Democracy fails, what would the youth do? Probably move out of athens, is that what you want?
What would happen if we teach our youth stuff besides Democracy? Our youth will be more prepared, is that a bad thing?
250 word essay needed to earn the badge.
Is it always OK to question those in authority? Never OK? How do you decide?
I think it is always OK to question authority but you can not be rude about it. If you would like to question authority don’t be disrespectful to your authority. In my opinion, questioning authority should sound something like “_______, I have been realizing that you have been doing a really good job leading me, but I would like to be able to do more things as I like.” As long as your authority does not lose respect for you, there is nothing wrong with questioning them. If your authority is corrupt then it is OK to be really blunt with them. Sometimes when an authority starts to be corrupt I do nothing about it, but later I wish that I had questioned them. One example of this is the time when I found an abandoned boat and later someone said that is was theirs, to see the whole story click the link below. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ugU2E8e7kFAlOcoN-MQqDGsJtrFg5-Gf6oCKPKX4MpM/edit?usp=sharing There are some people that should not have authority, as proved a couple years ago, at Acton Academy. It was the third year at Acton Academy, every year, we do something called Process Drama. Process Drama is an activity where students can express creativity through a program like acting. That year our question of the year was does power corrupt. So the guides decided to make our Process Drama about authority. Everything started out fine. The eagles were separated into two groups. Each group had to elect a leader for the day, but that was the tricky part as we would soon find out. The second day of Process Drama started out OK but as the hour progressed we began to realize that our leader had some personal biases against some of the other students. One mistake and you were sent to the “jail” (which was a cardboard box). Though the “jail” was made out of cardboard no one ever turned against the leader. Maybe they were too scared or maybe they thought that they would have to serve a sentence in the “jail” but the truth is a cardboard box is a cardboard box. The most important thing we took away from that experience was the answer to our question “Does Power Corrupt.” What was our answer? I will leave that to you.