The Socratic Citizen
Assignment I: Is Socrates a good citizen? Discuss with reference to the Apology and the Crito.
The Socratic Citizen
Plato’s Socrates is a character plagued and prized with contradictions. He professed to care for nothing so much as virtue and human excellence but was incriminated by the greatest and most open democracy in ancient history. He was wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. He is at once the most Athenian, citizenly, patriotic, and other-regarding of philosophers—and yet the most critical and self-regarding of Athenians. In exploring that contradiction, between “Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen” and “Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society,” Aristotle’s Politics comes to mind: “the good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.” Socrates’ duality, as illustrated by the Apology and Crito, qualifies him as both a good man and a good citizen. The Apology presents Socrates as a highly patriotic citizen who attempted to improve his fellows through beneficial provocation and criticism of popular ideas. Socrates avoided addressing the Assembly and engaging in a ‘public life’, but he carried out his critical obligations in public places as well as in private houses. The Apology opens with Socrates justifying himself and his way of life before a jury of his Athenian peers. It shows him speaking in a public forum, defending the utility of philosophy for political life. Socrates’ speech is a rhetorical masterpiece; but by its end he has not aligned himself with the democratic norms embraced by his fellow citizens. It is worthwhile to note that Socrates never defends himself by reference to the doctrine of unlimited free speech. Rather, he maintains that the examined life is alone worth living. His is a highly individual quest for self perfection and not a doctrine about the value of freedom of speech in general. Socrates’ capacity to do good for his fellows is implied by his clever
The Socratic Citizen
Plato’s Socrates is a character plagued and prized with contradictions. He professed to care for nothing so much as virtue and human excellence but was incriminated by the greatest and most open democracy in ancient history. He was wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. He is at once the most Athenian, citizenly, patriotic, and other-regarding of philosophers—and yet the most critical and self-regarding of Athenians. In exploring that contradiction, between “Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen” and “Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society,” Aristotle’s Politics comes to mind: “the good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man.” Socrates’ duality, as illustrated by the Apology and Crito, qualifies him as both a good man and a good citizen. The Apology presents Socrates as a highly patriotic citizen who attempted to improve his fellows through beneficial provocation and criticism of popular ideas. Socrates avoided addressing the Assembly and engaging in a ‘public life’, but he carried out his critical obligations in public places as well as in private houses. The Apology opens with Socrates justifying himself and his way of life before a jury of his Athenian peers. It shows him speaking in a public forum, defending the utility of philosophy for political life. Socrates’ speech is a rhetorical masterpiece; but by its end he has not aligned himself with the democratic norms embraced by his fellow citizens. It is worthwhile to note that Socrates never defends himself by reference to the doctrine of unlimited free speech. Rather, he maintains that the examined life is alone worth living. His is a highly individual quest for self perfection and not a doctrine about the value of freedom of speech in general. Socrates’ capacity to do good for his fellows is implied by his clever