The Apology And Phaedo By Socrates

The purpose of this paper is to explain Socrates' argument that there is good hope that death is a blessing and why it is a sound enough argument (40 c). This will be done by asking six questions to understand and evaluate any argument. From there the conclusion will be met as to why Socrates' argument in the apology is a sound enough one.

The Apology and Phaedo by Plato are two different books describing what is like to be a philosopher per Socrates believes. These two books take place in two different scenarios in Socrates’ life, The Apology takes place in a court room where Socrates is to defend himself from false charges brought to him by Meletus who is acting as the prosecutor. Phaedo, on the other hand, takes place in a prison cell post judgment on the day of Socrates execution. Hence, The Apology and Phaedo appeared to display different philosophies: The Apology, Plato presented Socrates as wise for he knows that he knows nothing, hence he is seeking wisdom by questioning those who think they know more or something, just to find that they don’t know anything, therefore Socrates makes it his duty to make them look ignorant/stupid. Phaedo, Socrates focuses primarily on death and the immortality of the soul, hence he is seeking knowledge by devoting his final hours picking the minds of his friends to explain the role of a philosopher, which is preparing for death. Consequently, these two views are really the same, yet presented differently by Socrates, for in one he is defending his freedom and life using philosophy, hence he has only done what the Gods expected of him. From the other view, he resigned to his fate, for as a philosopher, he knows his soul will finally become liberated from the evils and limitations of the body to come to its divine state.

In Socrates first argument is claims that “no one knows if death may be the greatest good” and if someone has fear towards death, then they are looking at death in a wrong way. Fearing death is a mistake because we don’t really know what will happen after we die. Maybe death could be a good thing and we live an afterlife. After death is a unknown place and we can only imagine what we think might happen but we can’t guarantee it. In today’s society, there are many religions that believe in having what is called “recreation” where our physical body decays, but our spiritual body will reborn maybe as an animal or maybe another body.

   In any case of law, when considering truth and justice, one must first look at the validity of the court and the system itself.  In Socrates' case, the situation is no different.  One may be said to be guilty or innocent of any crime, but guilt or innocence is only as valid as the court it is subjected to.  Therefore, in considering whether Socrates is guilty or not, it must be kept in mind the norms and standards of Athens at that time, and the validity of his accusers and the crimes he allegedly committed.  Is Socrates guilty or innocent of his accusations?

He knows that when he is put to death, they will be the ones at a loss of his knowledge and true wisdom. He still believes he has gained no reasons to think that he can lose in death as his acts were not for material gain (28-29). Socrates has shown no fear for being hated by the majority of Athens, yet still finds himself being accused of serious crimes leading to his death.

Socrates is put to trial by three accusers Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon. They claim that Socrates is an evildoer, that he is corrupting the youth of Athens, and that he is promoting atheism. In The Apology Socrates is not truly apologizing for his actions, rather he is defending himself and his actions. At the beginning of Socrates trial he merely states that he has no experience with the courts and he wishes no one to judge him by the way he speaks.

In the Apology and Crito, Socrates explains his reasoning, stating that it is better to be wronged, than to do wrong. Socrates was explaining to Crito than even though in their opinion that Socrates being put to death is wrong that they cannot do something wrong also. In the Crito one of Socrates main points is that “Even if your enemies have wronged you, you still have to do the right thing”. Socrates isn’t rejecting self-defense he rejects the notion of doing something wrong back to the person or the city. One of the many people putting Socrates to death, Meleteus is simply damaging his soul by doing such an injustice. In the Apology Socrates explains Socrates goes on to explain that he is damaging his soul, and if Socrates escapes,

In the section, the Apology, Socrates addresses a jury that found him guilty of corrupting the minds of the youth, believing in his own divinities, and failing to acknowledge the city’s gods. Socrates presented a reasonable case to prove his innocence, however, at the end of the trial, his destiny remained unchanged and was sentenced to death. Plato wanted Socrates to be remembered in “the best possible light” which caused me to question if what Socrates said in the trial was recorded accurately. Even though Plato was an eyewitness, did he alter some of Socrates’ comments so that Socrates would be seen as a victim who was wrongly accused by biased jurors? Either way, Socrates is recognized as a man who constantly obeyed a divine command and

I had heard of Socrates before in high school, and knew that he was considered by many to be a very important person. Although I did not know just how important he really was to philosophy. Previously I was very reluctant to think about problems such as life after death. Once again I found thinking about these things to be a very uncomfortable experience. Once I started reading the text however I found myself intrigued. I did find Socrates’s idea that his soul would simply separate from his body after death, to be quite silly.

Ancient Greek had many exemplary thinkers called philosophers and Socrates was one of them. He imparted about knowledge, amity, and integrity as the Delphic Oracle declared Socrates as the wisest man in Athens. One of Socrates’ students was a philosopher named Plato who wrote an Apology about Socrates. Socrates was wise in respect to the fact that he never accepted a “truth” that was told to him, without getting clear evidence to back it up. He made the realization that people believed in polytheistic religion without even knowing where their ideas came from. Athena was the most worshipped goddess among Athenians. Moreover, Ancient Greek formed city-states and all of them were independent but the most popular was the Athens. "Apology" begins with the speech in which Socrates makes his defense to the Athenian court at Agora and the voting for Socrates assassination were

In this week’s reading, The Apology, Socrates expresses some strong views on wisdom and death. This essay discusses some of these views, specifically in regards to wisdom despite Socrates professions of not being wise. In Socrates professions of not being wise, he tells a story of his quest to find one wiser then himself. Socrates explains that as he has met with men of various professions that thought themselves to be wise and that were considered to be wise by others.

I didn't have any questions on parts of the text that I found difficulty some much as I am curious other people's perspectives on a specific part of Socrates' defense in the apology. On page 28, section 25b, Socrates enters into a line of questioning with his accuser Meletus. However, this line of questioning seems to be somewhat different to the line of questioning we saw in the Euthyphro. In the Euthyphro, Socrates seemed to be trying to get to the truth, or maybe trying to show that Euthyphro knew less than he claimed to know. I the Apology, though, it looks like Socrates is simply trying to win an argument. He goes from a philosopher to a rhetorician. When questioning Meletus, he answers himself before Meletus even has a chance to answer.

The Apology shows how other people perceive Socrates actions and how Socrates himself perceives his actions; these different views are then evident in Book I of the Republic. The Greek word “apologia” means defense. In The Apology of Socrates, Socrates is defending himself and his actions because of the accusations against him corrupting the youth, atheism, and making the weaker argument the stronger. As a philosopher, Socrates is dangerous to the city because of the relationship between reason and revelation.

In his final moments, Socrates continues to illustrate his views on true life to his distraught friends. He stands by these views as he refuses to escape his own death because his belief is that death cannot harm him; only loss of integrity can. This choice, however, causes strife for the people in Socrates’s life because in the absence of him, they are, in their own eyes, worse off. However, this is not harm to the self as Socrates views it, therefore, by his death, harm has not reached anyone’s self. In this way Socrates demonstrates that no one should lose integrity for the sake of someone else’s state of living. Death is not the end of a soul, and after death a soul will maintain its integrity. If this is true, Socrates

Nevertheless both Socrates and Antigone were willing to die because in their eyes they’re just. In the book of Apology, Socrates has no problem of dying, because if he wanted pity from the judge it diminishes the truth of what he argued. He believes that Death is when people fear the unknown. However one has to make the unknown, known. When dying, there is no fear of pain because if ones body and soul separates, there is no death.