Socrates Apology

1
Socrates Apology

• Structure of the trial
• Socrates style
• Socrates past accusers
• Meletus charges
• What does Socrates care about and what doesnt he
  care about?
• Why isnt Socrates afraid of death?

2
Socrates Apology
3
Socrates Apology
4

• Why is Socrates in court?
• He is defending himself from the charges of
  Meletus.
• What has Meletus charged him with?
• Corrupting the youth of Athens and not believing
  in the gods of Athens.

5
Structure of trial

• Who decides on Socrates guilt or innocence?
• A jury of 501 Athenian citizens.
• If he is found guilty, who decides Socrates
  sentence?
• The same.

6

• First phase
• Prosecutor argues for Socrates guilt Socrates
  argues for his innocence citizens vote.
• Second phase
• Prosecutor argues for one sentence Socrates
  argues for another sentence citizens vote for
  one sentence or another.
• Third phase
• Socrates gives closing comments.

7
Socrates style

• What is the style of Socrates speech?
• Not high-flown oratorical rhetoric, not flowery,
  not emotional.
• Everyday tone, down-to-earth language, rational.

8

• From me you will hear the whole truth, though
  not, by Zeus, gentlemen, expressed in embroidered
  and stylized phrases like theirs, but things
  spoken at random and expressed in the first words
  that come to mind (17b).

9

• Is Socrates style of talking typical of those
  being accused in court?
• Is Socrates style of talking the most effective
  means for gaining acquittal?
• Why does Socrates talk that way?

10
Socrates past accusers

• Socrates says he has two sets of accusers.
• What did his past accusers say about him?
• A dangerous devious man, a bad influence, a
  sophist, a flake.
• Aristophanes The Clouds

11

• Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he
  busies himself studying things in the sky and
  below the earth he makes the worse into the
  stronger argument and he teaches these same
  things to others (19b).

12
What led people to think these thingsabout
Socrates?

• The Oracle of Delphi

13

• What did the Oracle of Delphi say?
• No one is wiser than Socrates.
• What did Socrates think when he heard this?
• I know nothing.
• What did Socrates believe the god wanted him to
  do?
• Find someone wiser than he.

14

• How did Socrates go about obeying the Oracle?
• He questioned many people with great reputations
  for knowledge, but found that they did not
  possess knowledge after all.
• What conclusion did Socrates reach?
• I know more than they do in that I know that I do
  not know.
• Euthyphro

15

• What was the reaction of the men Socrates
  questioned?
• What was the reaction of the youth who watched
  Socrates?

16

• Socrates has Human Wisdom
• Knowing that you dont know
• This is distinct from Divine Wisdom.

17
Meletus Charges

• Socrates is guilty of corrupting the young and
  of not believing in the gods in whom the city
  believes, but in other new spiritual things
  (21b).

18

• How does Socrates respond to the charge that he
  corrupts the young? (Three responses)
• Meletus claims that everyone else benefits the
  young, and that Socrates alone harms them. But
  that is wildly implausible.

19

• How does Socrates respond to the charge that he
  corrupts the young? (Three responses)
• None of the youth who have followed Socrates, nor
  any of their fathers, has complained of
  corruption.

20

• How does Socrates respond to the charge that he
  corrupts the young? (Three responses)
• If Socrates does corrupt the young, he does so
  unwillingly, and so deserves instruction and not
  punishment.

21

• How does Socrates respond to the charge that he
  does not believe in the gods of the city? (Two
  responses)
• He believes in spiritual matters, so he must
  believe in spiritual things.

22

• How does Socrates respond to the charge that he
  does not believe in the gods of the city? (Two
  responses)
• The seemingly atheistic things Socrates said
  about celestial bodies (the sun and moon) had
  been said by many other people before him.

23

• Do you think Socrates has shown the charges
  against him to be false?

24
Sentencing phase

• What punishment does Meletus ask for?
• Death
• What punishment does Socrates ask for?
• Free meals in the town hall
• Why does Socrates think this is the punishment
  he deserves?

25
What does Socrates care about?

• You are wrong, sir, if you think that a man who
  is any good at all should take into account the
  risk of life or death he should look to this
  only in his actions, whether what he does is
  right or wrong, whether he is acting like a good
  or a bad man (28d).

26

• This is the truth of the matter, men of Athens
  wherever a man has taken a position that he
  believes to be best, there he must I think remain
  and face danger without a thought for death or
  anything else, rather than disgrace (28d).

27

• Good Sir, you are an Athenian, a citizen of the
  greatest city with the greatest reputation for
  both wisdom and power are you not ashamed of
  your eagerness to possess as much wealth,
  reputation, and honors as possible, while you do
  not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth,
  or the best possible state of your soul? (29e).

28

• For I go around doing nothing but persuading
  both young and old among you not to care for your
  body or your wealth in preference to or as
  strongly as for the best possible state of your
  soul (30a).

29

• It is the greatest good for a man to discuss
  virtue every day, and those other things about
  which you hear me conversing and testing myself
  and others, for the unexamined life is not worth
  living (38a).

30

• The unexamined life is not worth living.

31
What does Socrates not care about?

• Socrates does not care about reputation.
• Socrates does not care about wealth.
• Socrates does not care about death.

32

• Socrates does not care about death.
• He remained at his post during wartime even when
  the danger was great.
• He disobeyed order to arrest 10 generals.
• He disagreed openly with the oligarchy.
• He did not plead for leniency at his trial.
• He said he would continue to philosophize even if
  the city let him go on the condition that he
  would stop.

33
What does Socrates care about?

• Wisdom
• Truth
• The state of his soul
• The examined life
• Athens
• Virtuedoing the right thing, being a good
  person, never willingly wronging anyone, no
  matter what the consequences.

34
Why doesnt Socrates fear death?

• We dont know what death is like, so to fear
  death would be to act like we know what we dont.
• Death is either a dreamless sleep or a chance to
  converse with dead heroes.

35
Why doesnt Socrates fear death?

• No harm can come to a good person, so a good
  person has nothing to fear from death or anything
  else.
• A good man cannot be harmed either in life or
  death. (41d)

36

• Why did Socrates believe that no harm could come
  to a good person?