rentadaa.blogg.se - Plato socrates defense

The charges against him were typical of the charges against the sophists. He says that these allegations stem from a certain comic poet, namely Aristophanes.

These so called 'informal charges' Socrates puts into a legalistic form - an 'affidavit' as he calls it: "Socrates is committing an injustice, in that he enquires into things below the earth and in the sky, and makes the weaker argument the stronger, and teaches others to follow his example". However, there was another set of 'charges' against him which Socrates recognised as being more important, and dangerous, because they stemmed from years of gossip and prejudice against him and hence were unanswerable. Socrates summarises the formal charges against him as follows: "Socrates is guilty of corrupting the minds of the young, and of believing in supernatural things of his own invention instead of the gods recognised by the State". The groups mentioned here can be identified with those whom Socrates questioned, and upset, in the early stages of his quest to find people who possessed knowledge.

Lycon, about whom little is known he was according to Socrates a representative of the orators.

Meletus, the chief spokesperson of the accusers and the target of much of Socrates' attack, a fiery man with a beaked nose, and a representative of the poets.

Anytus, a prominent democrat and almost certainly the leader of the accusers, whom Socrates describes as speaking on behalf of politicians and professional men.Three men brought the charges against Socrates. The entire dialogue is filled with irony. In fact, he will show that he is quite a skilled orator, and that the beauty of his oration is in the truth he speaks. Socrates begs the jury to judge him, not based on his oratory skills, in which his accusers will surely surpass him, but based on his ability to speak the truth. Indeed, in the Apology Socrates will suggest that philosophy consists entirely of a sincere and humble admission of ignorance, and that wisdom is really nothing more than an acknowledgement of this ignorance. Plato often begins his Socratic dialogues with words which indicate the overall idea of the dialogue in this case, "I do not know". This first sentence is crucial to the theme of the entire speech. Socrates begins by saying he does not know if the men of Athens (his jury) have been persuaded by his accusers. It means to "give an account of" rather than to apologise in a modern sense of the word. Such a speech by the defendant was technically known as an "apology". Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he defends himself against the charges of being a man "who corrupted the young, did not believe in the gods, and created new deities".