The Ambiguity of Plato Essay examples

Plato’s Apology, is by far one of the most logical yet critical thinking text that I have ever read. Plato describes Socrates, the accused atheist and corrupter of youth in ancient Athens, as a true beacon of ethics and morality. The method that Plato uses to depict Socrates on trial gives us a look back on how the trial of a man who encourages one of sound mind to ask questions even to those who are deemed wise in the eyes of others. Despite facing odds that are stacked highly against him, and this being his first time in court “For I am more than seventy years of age, and this is the first time that I have ever appeared in a court of law, and I am quite a stranger to the ways of the place; and therefore I would have you regard me as if I

Plato’s Apology is the story of the trial of Socrates, the charges brought against him and his maintaining of his own innocence throughout the process. At the onset of the trial, Socrates appears to challenging the charges, which included corrupting the youth, challenging belief in the gods that were accepted and reveled by the State, and introducing a new religious focus, but also belittles his own significance and suggesting that he will not attempt to disprove that he participated in the actions maintained by the court. In essence, Socrates appears almost self-effacing, and his defense surprises even his accuser, Meletus. But by the end of the Apology, Socrates becomes almost a different person,

In the Apology, Socrates aimed to do three things: defend his ideas and principles, continue to teach those who will open their mind and state that he knew regardless of what he said he was aware that all five hundred and one jurors knew who he was and disliked him. Socrates was well aware of the fact that he had made multiple enemies, he knew that the politicians, poets, rich and craftsmen all

In Plato’s Republic he has many examples of rhetoric. In regards to the controversial topic of women and eugenics in which Plato is almost forced into mentioning because of Adeimantus and Glaucon, he uses various rhetorical statements to portray his view on the matter. His readers believe women should be equal, so Plato attempts to persuade his readers into thinking he believes the same. For example, in the passage on women and family Plato states, “we shall assign these to each accordingly; but if the only difference apparent between them is that the female bears and the male begets, we shall not admit that this is the difference relevant for our purpose, but shall still maintain that our male and female Guardians ought to follow the same occupations” (164). He uses the women are equal and can do the same things as men strategy in order to make Athenian men understand what he is trying to say while still stroking their egos by using rhetoric. Men are in general are hard to persuade when it comes to power, so as a result Plato gives a sense of gender equality while at the same time still giving men the upper hand.

The Apology was written by Plato as an account of the defense that Socrates presented during the trial in which he was condemned to death. Socrates gave this apologia, or defense of one’s actions, against the accusations that he did not believe in any gods, and that he was corrupting the young men of Athens. Not being as skillful in the art of oratory as his accusers, Socrates admitted that he would, as plainly as possible, present only truthful and logical refutes to the accusations that were against him. Being wise in the way of rhetoric, Socrates used pathos, ethos, and logos to argue in his defense. Although ultimately executed, Socrates masterfully defended himself in court and proved that he was a man of both virtue and wisdom.

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.

Socrates and Plato differ from Isocrates by believing that rhetoric, which distributes wisdom, comes from the soul. “The man whose rhetorical teaching is a real art will explain accurately the nature of that to which his words are to be addressed, and that is the soul.” (163) Ones soul is affected by decisions made by the human form and also by those interacting with the soul. The wise man’s soul contains wisdom, truth and intelligence. Thus, by interacting with a bad soul or a soul with bad intent lowers to soul of a just and wise man. Since rhetoric is distributing knowledge to others, the soul should be used when making hard and uncertain decisions. The soul of a wise person holds ultimate truth and its human form knows how to seek out knowledge and understanding to find ultimate truth by ways of questioning.

In Phaedrus, Plato expands on the social implication that those who wield rhetoric ought to be just and act justly when utilizing it. This recurring theme is clearly portrayed through his analysis of love, the soul, and rhetoric itself. Phaedrus is written as a dialogue, with Phaedrus and Socrates discussing their views on rhetoric. Plato structures his writing so that Socrates is the one bestowing knowledge upon Phaedrus, his young and playful pupil, by asking pointed questions to which Phaedrus replies. The relationship between Phaedrus and Socrates is both one of a student and teacher but also one of lovers, made clear by Socrates’ soft attitude and affection towards Phaedrus.

The Apology is Plato’s rendition of Socrates’ trial, but despite what the name would have you believe, it is not about Socrates having an expression of regret or admission to having done anything wrong. The word apology comes from the Greek word “apologia” meaning “explanation”. Something that is said to defend something that other people criticize. Or a desire to make clear the grounds for some course, belief, or position (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In literature, an autobiographical form in which a defense is the framework for discussion of the author 's personal beliefs. An example is

Plato’s Apology is structured as a narrative. Socrates is on trial, charged with corrupting the youth of Athens and not believing in the same gods as the people in the city. When the story starts, Socrates’s accusers have just stopped speaking. It is now Socrates’s time to give his defense.

However, Petruzzi explains that Plato's dialogical strategy leads to an assumption of the indeterminate nature of truth and a “philosophical rhetor who "knows" that she is not able to know with any certainty” (Petruzzi 16). He insists that the primary quality of Plato's texts is “that dialogue and dialectic express neither a technical skill nor a method, but rather a mode of being-in-the-world: Dialectic is not so much a techne-that is, an ability and knowledge-as a way of being" (Petruzzi 17). For Plato, rhetoric is is agreement between participants where its success is reliant upon them presenting opposing sides or bringing a problem under consideration. Petruzzi explains that Plato searched for a stable definition that would anchor a concept in “"one" unified and temporary intellectual position.” However, he struggled because the disclosure of truth, through dialogue and dialectic, “explicitly contains the perspectival and relational quality of aletheia, or unconcealment” (Petruzzi 17). As we see, Plato strove for truth, but his error with in thinking that there were absolute truths that don’t change. William Benoit said that Plato’s views stand in sharp relief against those of the Sophists because he believed in certain knowledge, for he declares rather bluntly in the Gorgias that "truth, you see, can never be refuted." In the Phaedrus, he

He writes, “when turned towards the twilight of becoming and perishing, then [the soul] has opinion only, and goes blinking about, and seems to have no intelligence” (Book VI, p. 25). By establishing opinion as the opposite to the ultimate good, and by definition, the ultimate evil, he criticizes the use of rhetoric and persuasion while praising to his long-winded, circuitous form of writing. By continually asking questions and telling parables, Plato avoids direct advocation of his beliefs and allows his readers to discover the truth for themselves, rather than to be coerced through eloquent language.

Philosopher. According to sources, Plato was born on or around May 21, 427 (or 428) B.C. in Athens, the son of Ariston and Perictione, both of Athenian aristocratic ancestry. He lived his whole life in Athens, although he traveled to Sicily and southern Italy on several occasions, and one story says he traveled to Egypt. Little is known of his early years, but he was given the finest education Athens had to offer the scions of its noble families, and he devoted his considerable talents to politics and the writing of tragedy and other forms of poetry. His acquaintance with Socrates altered the course of his life. The compelling power which Socrates's methods and arguments had over the minds of the youth of Athens gripped Plato as firmly as

One of Plato 's greatest works was The Republic . The Republic was Plato’s defence of justice and what he thinks is the best form of government. The piece of writing brings up two questions that are still relevant today. The questions brought up by this piece of writing were ‘what is justice?’, and ‘what is the relation between justice and being happy?’. Some of Plato’s other pieces of writing include Meno. The Meno was written in an attempt to define what virtue was. Another one of Plato’s well known dialogue was Symposium. Plato wrote Symposium to show the purpose and nature of love. Plato wrote many more dialogues, that people still read to this day.

The Greek Philosopher Plato was born in 428 B.C. a free citizen in one of the wealthier, politically active, families of his time in the city of Athens, his early life was marked by The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) between Athens and Spartan which carried on for nearly 30 years. And at first he was inspired toward becoming a great political leader in his own right. Yet he became was a student and follower of the Earlier Greek Philosopher Socrates. Plato grew up in a time when Athens was a center of trade and commerce and governance and as such following the assumed teaching style of Socrates, he would walk the streets engaging in charged discussions and debates over tenuous topics with countless strangers and foreigner passersby’s. This inevitably means they were exposed to numerous schools of thinking and understanding against which to hone one’s own thinking and understandings, conclusions and beliefs. And while little is known of Socrates directly, he did not write anything down, modern have gleaned much regarding Socrates from the many writings of Plato. Plato applied what is now referred to as the Socratic Method; in fact throughout his writings, and within this dialog method Socrates is a prominent character for Plato. And while Plato failed to follow in directly in his family tradition of local