Socrates

Socrates is convicted of corrupting the young and not believing in the gods of the city. During his trials, his “Apology,” a transliteration of the Greek word apologia, meaning defense consists of 3 parts. The first part would be his main speech, followed by his counter-assessment and finally his last words to the jury. Throughout the apology, Socrates explains how he benefits the citizens of Athens and helps them achieve happiness. The philosophy behind being happy has much more story and depth…

The Types of Socrates In The Trials of Socrates, we are shown different view points of the Greek philosopher, Socrates. However, none of these views come directly from the philosopher. Socrates had never published anything during his lifetime, therefore all his beliefs are recounted second hand. This is unreliable as it becomes ambiguous whether or not these views being written down are purely Socrates’ thoughts or if the authors bias has trickled into argument. These differing accounts have…

Socrates was an Athenian philosopher, who was one of the most well known people of his time (400BC) due to his ability to meticulously question peoples opinions regardless of their social status. He used a philosophical approach in order to help people prosper themselves and believed strongly in the idea of caring for the soul. He was physically short and deemed as unattractive in comparison to Athenian standards. He never dwelled in matters that involved money or gaining power as he was more…

Socrates should be found guilty of impiety. Fellow aristocrats, we understand the nature of piety and impiety with greater clarity than most Athenians. To be pious is to honor and respect the gods, and to do so earns the love of the gods. It is clear Socrates does not meet these criteria for numerous reasons, however, one is particularly prominent: Socrates challenged the oracle by actively trying to refute the Pythia’s prophecy regarding him. Socrates himself presented this information, and…

This dialogue is sometimes referred to as Socrates swan song. It is Important to be familiar with a summary of the Phaedo. It takes place in the town of Phlius, Echecrates encounters Phaedo a friend of Socrates' who was there in his final hours. Echecrates wants to hear the story from a first-hand, and presses for information. Phaedo explains a number of Socrates' friends were gathered in his cell prior to his execution. Some of these people included Crito, and two philosophers who go by the…

irrationality. In the euthyphro, one can see Socrates on his way to court for the charges that have been brought against him. On his way in, he meets a man named Euthyphro, who is a scholar of the law and is also very pompous. Euthyphro boast of his exact and perfect knowledge of all things related to religion, gods, and piety. Therefore, Socrates challenges Euthyphro to define piety. Eventually Euthyphro is unable to do so. Each possible definition is demolished by Socrates reasoning. One of…

avoidance of the profound topic Chaerephon introduced. He also utilizes the debate between Polus and Socrates to illustrate that Socratic discussion--not an oratorical method of speech--is the only legitimate philosophical path of discovering the truth. Plato, through this debate, later shows the importance of Socratic discussion as a way to comprehend abstract ideas more deeply in philosophy by employing Socrates to develop the idea of happiness as a state of being--proving Polus ' simplistic…

Crito goes on to explain that those who accused and sentence him is an act of injustice and by Socrates not escaping, Crito believes that he is acting unjustly by following what his accusers did to him. Crito believes, “it is not just for [Socrates] to do what [he is] doing, throwing away your life when [he] might save it” (Plato 82). Again, Crito believes that Socrates not escaping is going to harm his own self as well as his friends (including Crito) as well as Socrates’s children. Crito…

[Topic sentence] Despite Socrates’ claim that his method of argument amounts to a disinterested pursuit of truth, at certain points in his discussion with Gorgias, he relies on rhetorical appeals to gain an advantage in the debate. [transition to more specific point] These often take the form of ethos appeals directed at the crowd of young men watching the debate. [Set-up/context for quote] For example, at one point, Socrates interrupts the discussion about the function of rhetoric in order to…

Socrates reaches his conclusion on the principle of specialization when he analyzes an individual’s needs and the plurality of needs. Although I agree with Socrates’ assertion that specialization is more productive for society, I do not agree that one is “to work all his life at a single trade…and keep away from all the others” (374b) as it creates a one dimensional society that defies the natural curiosity in humans. Socrates states that a city arises from the variety of needs of…