Socrates Believes In Divine Activities example essay topic

In the Apology, Socrates is sentences to death by a jury of his fellow Athenians. He is charged with both "historical" and "immediate" charges, he attempts to refute these charges appropriately, but in the end his arguments were unsuccessful. Though he received the death penalty, I believe that he was sentenced unjustly. Socrates developed concrete arguments in which he supported, and ultimately proved, however, his efforts reluctantly did not have a positive effect on the outcome of his trial; he was destined to fail from the start. For years, Socrates has been wrongfully accused of possessing erroneous philosophical convictions, and has been deemed ultimately guilty of studying these beliefs.

Unfortunately, these fraudulent accusations have become embedded in the impressionable minds of most Athenians. There are distinctively three main allegations brought up against Socrates; presently referred to as the 'Historical Charges'. "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". (19 b) Socrates defends himself against the continuous slander by his accusers, by saying that it is just a fabricated rumor. He asks the jury if any man has heard him. ".. discussing such subjects to any extent at all" (19 c). He then proceeds to prove him self innocent.

He admits to finding people, who are knowledgeable on a subject, learning from them, then showing them how they are actually not smart at all. This has caused him to attain much 'unpopularity'. He also asks 'how' he corrupts the young, and is given no answer. It is said that he teaches what is forbidden to teach, but Socrates proclaims that there are many who teach the young, and many who can make the weaker argument, the stronger. Socrates is referring to the Sophists here. He distinguishes himself from the Sophists by saying that he is not an expert on these teachings, "Certainly I would pride and preen myself if I had this knowledge, but I do not have it, gentlemen".

(20 c) Thus proving he is not the one to blame, he is not guilty. Moreover, in addition to the previous charges, Socrates has been convicted more recent 'Immediate Charges' by Meletus, Any tus, and Lycos. Meletus is the primary prosecutor, supported by the other two. In these charges, there are two more charges which Socrates faces. "Socrates is guilty of corrupting the young and of not believing in the gods of whom the city believes, but in other new divinities". (24 b).

Socrates tells the jury that he intends to defend himself once again on these new charges, by cross-examining Meletus. Socrates has a strong defense for himself and addresses each accusation made, in order to prove himself innocent in the stubborn minds of the jury. In the cross-examination of Meletus, powerful points are upheld, supporting Socrates theory that: .".. Meletus is someone who ought not to be taken seriously, that he has not thought through the meaning of the charge, and that he doesn't even care about these matters". (P. 99) Socrates uses a method of discussion of posing a question to Meletus and demanding an accurate answer, in order to show flaws in Meletus's accusations. He jarringly asks Meletus, if he is the sole person who corrupts the young, because that is what Meletus is asking the jury to believe.

Meletus is silent, which is and indication to Socrates that Meletus has no idea how to defend his charges. He demands to know "who improves our young men" (24 e) Meletus makes the mistake of saying that everyone improves the young, including the jury, the audience, ultimately, all the Athenians improve the young and Socrates alone corrupts them. Socrates comes up with three possibilities to this statement. Firstly, he does not corrupt the young; therefore, he is innocent and should be acquitted. Secondly, he unknowingly corrupts the young.

In that case death is not the solution. He must be properly educated, because he was unaware that he was doing wrong. Lastly, he corrupts the young. Which, according to Socrates, is impossible, because. ".. if I make one of my associates wicked I run the risk of being harmed by him so that I do such a great evil deliberately.

All wrong doing is due to ignorance, no one would deliberately hurt themselves. Furthermore, Socrates continues to challenge his second charge. He asks Meletus "Does any man believe in divine activities who does not believe in divinities? -No one" (27 c) Meletus admits that Socrates believes in divine activities. Therefore, Meletus is directly admitting that Socrates also believes in divine beings, thus disproving his original argument that he does. ".. not believe in the gods of whom the city believes, but in other new divinities". (24 b) Socrates has now presented Meletus with a dilemma; he has proven both charges insubstantial and therefore inadmissible.

Socrates was aware that his 'unpopularity' was deep rooted in the minds of the jury so he proceeded to make three types of appeals throughout his Apology. He began with an emotional appeal, whereby he humbles himself in front of the jury and subtly asks for forgiveness for his speech, .".. pay no attention to my manner of speech-be it better or worse-but to concentrate your attention on whether what I say is just or unjust". (18 a) He attempts to remind the jury that they are determining whether or not his sentencing is jus or unjust, "good or bad". He later attempts to develop his arguments logically. Although Socrates made valid arguments supporting his defense, he has been unable to convince the jury of his innocence.

Validity is determined independently on the truth of the statement. Clearly, Socrates has shown that his statements are with merit. They seem unquestionably true, thus proving their validity, ultimately deeming them sound deductive arguments. Meletus is unable to argue that Socrates does not exalt true premises to support his arguments.

Many times he is silent when posed questions, or does not provide valid answers, therefore his arguments are unsound. Even though, Socrates has done an excellent job proving himself factual and Meletus inaccurate, he is still unable to win the respect of the jury. Socrates also feels it necessary to introduce an ethical appeal; he does this by establishing common ground between the jury and himself. He compares himself to the heroes who died at Troy, especially the son of Thetis, who did what was noble, knowing that the consequences for his actions would be death. "Wherever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, or has been placed by his commander, there he must I think remain and face danger, without a thought for death or anything else, rather than disgrace". (28d) By saying that he is in a very similar situation to the son of Thetis, he is then saying that, it is noble to fight for truth and justice, no matter the consequences, even if it may be death.

Socrates is doing this exact thing by not ceasing to practice philosophy, even if the punishment is death. Therefore, Socrates too should be looked upon as a hero and not condemned for his actions. Socrates used strong persuasion tactics, but was still unable to change the minds of the jury. Socrates had good arguments, but in the end they were not successful, because he was still given the death penalty, regardless of his defense. Socrates handled his case to the best of his ability, unfortunately, his efforts were in vein, because despite him his worthy claims and justification, he request to be acquitted remained unfulfilled. The verdict was clearly unjust due to the strong biases that the jury members already possessed, which did not allow him to have any kind of chance to prove his innocence.

Like he said, he was 'unpopular'; he has offended too many people and acquired too many enemies. He also states in the beginning, that most if not all the people on the jury, have been brought up believing the earlier charges against Socrates, therefore making it impossible to change their minds at this later state. "Those who maliciously and slanderously persuaded you-who also, when themselves the persuaded others". (18d) They have already been sold on the idea that Socrates is guilty, no amount of will convince them otherwise. Socrates was ill-fated from the beginning of the trial, and was unjustly sentenced to his untimely death.

~ By: Amanda Roberts.