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INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
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Socrates (in the basket)
being ridiculed in The Clouds |
3. Socrates’
anti-democratic associations
4. Socratic cross-examination of democratic politicians
5. Socratic stress on expertise seen as elitist and anti-democratic
6. Socrates’ Spartan, ascetic appearance
an aesthetic affront to Athenian tastes
7. Suspiciousness of Socrates’ poverty
and apolitical lifestyle
C.
Prosecutors: Meletus, Anytus, Lycon
1. Motives?
2. Anytus: interpreted by many to
be main instigator of charges:
D. Formal Charges: 3 Distinct
Components
E. Socrates’ Defense
1. The Problem of Interpretation:
a) Dominant view: insincere irony
and arrogant defiance not intended as a serious response to his accusers
b) Minority view: genuine defense
guided by moral and philosophical commitments:
2. Refutation of Old Accusers:
Longstanding Slander and Prejudice
3. Refutation of Meletus
4. Socrates’ Divine Mission and the
Delphic Oracle:
F. Historical Excerpts on Socrates’
Trial
1.
Xenophon Memorabilia Book I. 1 and 2:
I have often wondered what arguments
Socrates' prosecutors could ever have used to prove to the Athenians that he
deserved to forfeit his life to the State. The charge against him ran like
this: "Socrates is guilty of not paying respect to the gods whom the state
respects, of introducing new divinities, and of corrupting the young."…. He
did not hold discussions on the nature of the Universe, as most of the
others did…. As for himself, he was always discussing human problems….
Socrates believed that the gods know everything—word, deed, and silent
thought alike—and that they were present everywhere, and that they gave
signs to men about all human affairs.
"But," said the Prosecutor, "Kritias and
Alcibiades were associates of Socrates, and they wrought the greatest harm
to the state. Kritias was the most rapacious and violent of all in the
oligarchy, while Alcibiades was the most intemperate and insolent of all the
democracy…."
"But," said the Prosecutor, "Socrates
taught his companions to abuse their parents by persuading them that he made
them wiser than their parents and by claiming that according to the law it
was possible for a son, if he proved his father insane, to imprison even his
own father…. The Prosecutor also said that Socrates claimed that the only
men worthy of honor were those who knew their duty and could explain what
they knew. Socrates, he said, also maid the youth think that other men were
of no account in comparison with himself, for he persuaded them that he was
the wisest man and the most competent in making others wise….
2.
Diogenes of Laertes, Lives of the
Philosophers, "Socrates":
These were his words and the deeds of
his life, to which the Pythian Priestess was referring when she gave her
famous answer to Chaerophon, "Of all men living, Socrates is the wisest."
This was the cause of the envy in which he was held, above all because he
would challenge those who thought highly of themselves, making them out to
be fools, as he treated Anytus, according to Plato in the Meno.
Anytus could not endure being ridiculed by
Socrates, so he stirred up Aristophanes and his friends against him. Later
Anytus helped persuade Meletus to lodge a
charge of impiety and of corrupting the youth against Socrates. The charge
was lodged by Meletus, and the speech was given by
Polyeuctes, according to Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History.
The speech was written by Polycrates the Sophist,
according to Hermippus; others say that it was by Anytus. Lycon the
demagogue had made all the necessary preparations.
Antisthenes, in his Successions of
the Philosophers, and Plato in his Apology, say that there were
three accusers: Anytus, Lycon and Meletus. Anytus was roused to anger on
behalf of the craftsmen and politicians, Lycon on behalf of the
rhetoricians, and Meletus on behalf of the poets; for all three of these
classes had felt Socrates' lash.
Favorinus, in the first book of his
Memorabilia, says that the speech of Polycrates against Socrates is not
authentic, because he speaks of the rebuilding of the walls of Conon—which,
however, did not take place until Socrates had been dead six years. This is
certainly the fact. The indictment in the case, still preserved, says
Favorinus, in the Metroon [the Athenian state records office], stated:
This indictment and affidavit is sworn out by Meletus:
Socrates the son of Sophroniscus of Alopece is guilty of refusing to
acknowledge the gods recognized by the State and of introducing new and
different gods. He is also guilty of corrupting the youth. The penalty
demanded is death.
3.
Justus of Tiberias, in his book entitled
The Wreath, says that in the course of the trial
Plato mounted the platform and began, "Though I am the youngest, Men
of Athens, of all who have risen to address you—", whereupon the jurymen
shouted, "Get down! Get down!"
G. Socrates' Comments on his Sentence
Not much time will be gained, O Athenians, in return for the evil name which
you will get from the detractors of the city, who will say that you killed
Socrates, a wise man; for they will call me wise even although I am not wise
when they want to reproach you. If you had waited a little while, your
desire would have been fulfilled in the course of nature. For I am far
advanced in years, as you may perceive, and not far from death. I am
speaking now only to those of you who have condemned me to death. And I have
another thing to say to them: You think that I was convicted through
deficiency of words—I mean, that if I had thought fit to leave nothing
undone, nothing unsaid, I might have gained an acquittal. Not so; the
deficiency that led to my conviction was not of words—certainly not. But I
had not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address you as you would
have liked me to address you, weeping and wailing and lamenting, and saying
and doing many things which you have been accustomed to hear from others,
and which, as I say, are unworthy of me. But I thought that I ought not to
do anything common or mean in the hour of danger: nor do I now repent of the
manner of my defence, and I would rather die having spoken after my manner,
than speak in your manner and live. For neither in war nor yet at law ought
any man to use every way of escaping death. For often in battle there is no
doubt that if a man will throw away his arms, and fall on his knees before
his pursuers, he may escape death; and in other dangers there are other ways
of escaping death, if a man is willing to say and do anything. The
difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding
unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death. I am old and move slowly,
and the slower runner has overtaken me, and my accusers are keen and quick,
and the faster runner, who is unrighteousness, has overtaken them. And now I
depart hence condemned by you to suffer the penalty of death, and they, too,
go their ways condemned by the truth to suffer the penalty of villainy and
wrong; and I must abide by my award - let them abide by theirs. I suppose
that these things may be regarded as fated, —and I think that they are well.
Source:
The Internet Classics Archive | Apology
by Plato
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