Platos Apology of Socrates

PLATOS APOLOGY OF SOCRATES

INTRODUCTION

Plato makes it clear , especially in his Apology of Socrates , that he was one of Socrates ' devoted young followers . In that dialogue , Socrates is presented as mentioning Plato by name as one of those youths close enough to him to have been corrupted , if he were in fact guilty of corrupting the youth , and questioning why their fathers and brothers did not step forward to testify against him if he was indeed guilty of such a crime . The relationship between Plato and Socrates is not unproblematic

. The charges against Socrates says that he has two sets of accusations : the old , longstanding charges that he is a criminal , a busybody , and a curious person who makes inquiries into the earth and sky , and the recent legal charges that he is guilty of corrupting the young , and of believing in supernatural things of his own invention instead of the gods recognized by the State . Which he terms as charges stemmed from years of gossip and prejudice against him and hence was unanswerable . The trial of Socrates is the central , unifying event of the great Platonic dialogues

The causes that occasioned this Apology were as follow : - Aristophanes at the instigation of Mellitus , undertook , in his comedy of the clouds to ridicule the venerable character of Socrates , on the stage and the way being once open to calumny and defamation , the fickle and licentious populace paid no reverence to the philosopher , whom they had before regarded as a being of a superior . When this had succeeded Melitus stood forth to criminate him , together with Anytus and Lycon and the philosopher was summoned before the tribunal of the Five Hundred . He was accused of making innovations in the religion of his country , and corrupting the youth . However , as both these accusations must have been obviously false to an unprejudiced tribunal

the accusers relied for the success of their cause on perjured witnesses , and the envy of the judges , whose ignorance would readily yield to misrepresentation , and be influenced and guided by false eloquence and fraudulent arts . In the Apology , Socrates tries to dismiss rumors that he is a sophist and defends himself against charges of disbelief in the gods and corruption of the young . Socrates insists that long-standing slander will be the real cause of his demise , and says the legal charges are essentially false . Socrates famously denies being wise , and explains how his life as a philosopher was launched by the oracle at Delphi . He says that his quest to resolve the riddle of the oracle put him at odds with his fellow man , and that this is the reason he has been mistaken for a menace to the city-state of Athens

THE APOLOGY of SOCRATES

Socrates begins by saying he does not know if the men of Athens (his jury ) translation often says gentlemen ' have been persuaded by his accusers . Plato often begins his Socratic dialogues with words that indicate the overall idea of the dialogue...