An Analysis of Jacques Louis' 'The Death of Socrates'

FUTTER, DYLAN. “Socrates Human Wisdom.” Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review 52.1 (2013): 61-79. Humanities International Complete. Print.

Socrates and Jesus were two teachers whose guidance people still follow today. They were both sentenced to death for their teachings even though there were witnesses to their innocence. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth and practicing atheism by three men, Lytus, Anytus, and Meletus. Plato, Socrates’ student, recorded Socrates’ defense speech. Socrates succeeded in getting some of the jury to see the truth, but in the end, he was sentenced to the death penalty. The Gospel of Luke is a section in the New Testament that reveals the Lord Jesus Christ and all he taught until he was killed. Jesus ' teachings and preaching are brought out as he healed the wounded and sick, and brought hope to the desperate. Jesus was also sentenced to death, but death did not keep him from teaching and after three days he resurrected and continued to teach. These men both died for truth and accepted their punishments. Socrates and Jesus have some similarities in their teachings and experiences, but Jesus focused more on shaping others and taught the “Christian life”, while Socrates shaped his students by teaching them how to take a different path than what the majority follows.

Reaching for the cup was an afterthought and unimportant to him. Also, the chains were just lying on the floor. They were not being used to restrain him. No one was restraining him or forcing him to drink the poison. He is willfully reaching out for the cup. Everyone in the room was crying except for Socrates. The man that was handing the poison to Socrates could not even bear to look at Socrates’ face. The man is looking the opposite direction. His hand is covering his eyes. He almost looks ashamed to be handing Socrates the poison.

Socrates is believed to be one of the greatest philosophers of all time and he is credited as being the founder of western philosophy. This paper will explain some of his views to the most fundamental questions of today’s age. These questions will include topics about morality, the human condition, solution, and death. After Socrates’ views on these topics are explained, a critique will be done on his answers. I will start out by explaining exactly who Socrates is, and the time that he lived in. To start out, we will first examine Socrates’ view on morality.

One of the complaints leveled against Socrates is that he spends his life analyzing people to see if they are truly wise and he goes out of his way to make sure that people know if they are not. In his defense, he argues that him being absent from the society will cause the society harm because the individuals will not know whether they are wise or not. After Socrates lays out his case as to why he shouldn’t be convicted the jury nevertheless decides to put him to death anyway. Socrates takes this moment to stoke the

Through several dialogues Plato gives readers accounts of Socrates’ interactions with other Athenians. While some may think of him as a teacher of sorts, Socrates is adamant in rejecting any such claim (Plato, Apology 33a-b). He insists that he is not a teacher because he is not transferring any knowledge from himself to others, but rather assisting those he interacts with in reaching the truth. This assistance is the reason Socrates walks around Athens, engaging in conversation with anyone that he can convince to converse with him. An assertion he makes at his trial in Plato’s Apology is at the center of what drives Socrates in his abnormal ways, “the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being” (38a). Socrates, through aporia, looks to lead an examined life to perfect his soul and live as the best person he can be. This paper looks to examine the ‘unexamined life’ and the implications rooted in living a life like Socrates’.

In philosophy class this semester we spoke a lot about Socrates and his trial. We were required to read the dialogue ‘Apology’ by Plato. The ‘Apology’ Dialogue is what Plato recorded during the speech Socrates gave to the court defending himself against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes” these two were the main charges, but underneath that there were also other significant charges such as being considered an antidemocratic or pro-Spartan, sophistry, and being lampooned by Aristophanes in the comedy “clouds”. "Apology" in this sense has the meaning of speaking in defense of ones beliefs or actions. The trial is usually categorized into two interpretations which are: Socrates as a Martyr and Socrates as an Antidemocratic. The first interpretation which says Socrates trial and death was Socrates acting as a martyr; that interpretation is considered more “traditional” and “standard” compared to the ‘radical’ interpretation that stated that Socrates was Antidemocratic.

The portrayal of Socrates, through the book “the trial and death of Socrates” is one that has created a fairly controversial character in Western history. In many ways, Socrates changed the idea of common philosophy in ancient Greece; he transformed their view on philosophy from a study of why the way things are, into a consideration man. Specifically, he analyzed the virtue and health of the human soul. Along side commending Socrates for his strong beliefs, and having the courage to stand by those convictions, Socrates can be commended for many other desirable characteristics. Some of those can include being the first martyr to die for his philosophical beliefs and having the courage to challenge indoctrinated cultural norms is part of

The problem with Socrates concerns the problem with the role of value and reason. Nietzsche believes that the bulk of philosophers claim that life is a corrupt grievance for mankind. Nietzsche reasoned that these life deniers were decadents of Hellenism, as a symptom of some underlying melancholy. For someone to paint life in such a negative light they must have suffered a great deal through the course of their own life. Furthermore, these no-sayers agreed in various physiological ways and thus adopted the same pessimistic attitudes towards life. Socrates was ugly, alike decadent criminals and by ways of these similarities was decadent as well. Nietzsche also claims ugliness as a physiological symptom of life in its decline supported by studies in phenology.

Socrates takes the death penalty in stride, as a man of almost 70 years he would rather die honorably than waste away in his older years. He claims that he will receive free meals, an honor kept only for athletes who win at the Olympic games.

Socrates explains that philosophy is the preparation for death. In other words, Socrates has spent the majority of his life preparing for the separation of his body and soul. “…the one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death” (101). He says that because our souls are immortal, we should embrace death and look forward to what it has to offer for our souls. To confirm this belief, Socrates again states, “…the freedom and separation of the soul from the body is called death…those who practice philosophy in the right way, we say, who always want to free the soul; and this release and separation of the soul from the body is the preoccupation of the philosophers” (104). A philosopher’s ambition, when looking toward death, is to free the soul from its body; therefore, when one dies, the soul lives on and the body does not.

In Phaedo Socrates elaborates on the nature of death before his execution. In The Apology, Socrates was sentenced to death by poison by a jury of his peer for committing atheism and corrupting the Athenian youth (Mallik). The story is told from one of Socrates’ students, Phaedo. Engaging in a dialogue with his students, Socrates argues the various ways the immortal soul can continue in the afterlife. Phaedo relates this dialogue to many other students of Socrates as well as the general public.

A philosophical attitude toward life should play a major part in our lives. It is crucial for us as humans to learn and accept lessons learned through the experience of life. If you do not “examine your life” then what do you learn and what do you gain? Socrates’ in “The Trial and Death of Socrates” he details this in many ways. We can pull all the evidence and ideas we need from this text written by Plato. In the 3 parts Euthyphro, Apology and Crito many conclusions are made and there is much to learn from this text. Some of the most important parts allude to this idea of living life with a philosophical attitude. The book begins with the search for the definition of piety. In the apology Socrates’ details his side of the argument showing everyone the power of his own ideas and that is proved by his execution and finally in the Crito his commitment to his way of life is the last point that Socrates’ made. This text is chalked full of life lessons but the most important is the one that urges people to live their lives while never stopping to learn and think.

The first painting, Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David, depicts one of the great philosophers, Socrates being sentenced to death. Socrates was a famous Athenian philosopher. It was through the works of Plato, Socrates’s student, that we learn about the trials and imprisonment that Socrates endured for his way of thinking. Through David’s painting style and use of Neoclassicism, viewers can understand the significance.

Throughout the Apology, Crito and Phaedo, Socrates expresses his conceptions of death and the afterlife, which are reflected