The Death Of Socrates: Metropolitan Museum Of Art

Socrates was a Western Ancient Athenian Greek philosopher who lived from 469 BCE until his death in 399 BCE. He was a student to another philosopher, Sophists, Socrates was different from most Greek philosophers he wanted to get at the truth and find out how one can truly be ‘good’ and moral in life. “To Socrates the soul is identified with the mind; it is the seat of reason and capable of finding the ethical truths, which will restore meaning and value of life” (ADD IN-TEXT CITATION SEMINAR). We continue to use many of Socrates teachings today, such as, ‘The Socratic method’, which is known as asking a question and within these questions you lead it to the answer you wanted to hear, many uses this as a teaching technique and is shown to be highly effective. A great number of Athenians looked up to Socrates and considered him the wise man of Athens, he had many followers whom would ask questions and seek answers. As popularity and following of Socrates grew so did accusations. The charges laid on Socrates by the Athenians were unjust and therefore his death was highly wrong in the eyes of true democracy that Athens was apparently known for. In this paper, I will discuss how Socrates was wrongfully convicted for the corruption of the youth despite having many young followers, introducing new Gods while still being considered an Atheist, and the main reason he was seen as a threat to Athens was that he brought change to the city.

Even though Socrates was on his deathbed, he was still teaching and arguing with his students. He wanted his students and friends to understand that it was for the good of society that he dies. I believe Socrates was thinking about the future and how his death would be a lesson for someone else. Socrates was also telling his students that he was not going to disobey the law. Socrates’ students and friends could have taken him to another city. That would have made Socrates a liar about what he was teaching all along. Even though the students and friends were crying and grieving over Socrates’ death, Socrates was not comforting them or fleeing to another city. Socrates was just teaching them his strong belief in justice and loyalty to the government. This was very devastating to his friends.

Balance in Raphael, The School of Athens is all in the front of the painting. From the left and right everyone is looking or in the direction of the two men in the middle of the painting. The two men in the middle are Plato and Aristotle. Plato on the left is carrying his Timaios, and Aristotle is holding the Ethics. The emphasis of the allusion form the long hallway behind everyone, makes the building seem very large. It makes it look as it goes on forever.

The enlightenment was a European movement during the 17th and 18th centuries. The enlightenment wasn’t a physical movement; however, it was an intellectual movement. Most of the ideas centered around authority and legitimacy. Later these ideas may have transformed into liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. The enlightenment was valued greatly, considering that it showed people how to think scientifically, and it also let the world understand different scientific processes. John Locke influenced Thomas Jefferson with these enlightenment writings by helping him write the Declaration of Independence because of Locke showing Jefferson that people were born with natural rights.

The Enlightenment was a period in the eighteenth century where change in philosophy and cultural life took place in Europe. The movement started in France, and spread to Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Germany at more or less around the same time, the ideas starting with the most renowned thinkers and philosophers of the time and eventually being shared with the common people. The Enlightenment was a way of thinking that focused on the betterment of humanity by using logic and reason rather than irrationality and superstition. It was a way of thinking that showed skepticism in the face of religion, challenged the inequality between the kings and their people, and tried to establish a sound system of ethics. The ideas behind the

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 image I chose for this paper is titled A Rose. The image is a painting painted in oil on a canvas and was painted by Thomas P. Anshutz. The painting was produced in Pennsylvania during 1907. I researched this image on ARTstor by using the term realism and then I narrowed down my search by selecting a filter to return paintings as well as setting the geography filter to North America. The painting belongs to The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and is on display in the American Wing in the gallery of Images of Woman from 1880 to 1910.

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in which humanity valued reason over tradition. The Enlightenment had reformed society by implementing reason and scientific thought. During the eighteenth century, European rulers had taken the beliefs of philosophes and had used their knowledge to influence their decisions. Overall, the Enlightenment philosophy influenced Rulers and their power significantly.

Crito and agreement with two guards to help Socrates escape his execution and live in exile, but Socrates refuses to escape. Crito believes that he would be committing two evil he he let Socrates die; “For if you die I might have saved you if I bad been willing to give money, but that I did not care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than this- that i should be taught to value money more than the life of a friend?” (44) One must value life over money and life over death. Crito continues to try and convince his friend that escaping is the right thing to do. Crito argues that if Socrates is to stay he would be committing an injustice for he is wrongfully sentenced. “Socrates in betraying your own life when you might be saved; this is playing into the hands of you enemies and destroyers; and moreover I should say that you were betraying your children for you might bring them up and educate them.” (45) One must value his family his friends and his children. As Crito stated Socrates choosing to not escape as is an act of him abandoning his wife and children and he should be ashamed. One must also value and obey the law of Athens, this would be one of Socrates arguments of why he would not escape his

The Enlightenment was an eighteenth-century movement within Western philosophy. This movement was not necessarily about ideas, but more about recognizing problems of human conditions of the state and the need of reforms. It also strongly supported the questioning of different traditions such as institutions, customs, and morals. The Enlightenment influenced many different events in history, one example being the colonial independence movement.

Even though Crito knows that Socrates does not like making decisions like these, he makes a good argument to persuade him to break out. Crito believes that his friend is just giving up, not seeing what the future could hold if he did escape. He even tells him that Thrace will welcome him in and there are people there willing to help him. Crito tells Socrates that he can use his money at will and if he didn’t want to use his money, he could use his friends. Because of Crito’s wealth, it would be easy for Socrates to escape and have a good life after he would escape. Crito thinks that Socrates isn’t thinking straight because he is so devastated that he was put in prison. The “laws of Athens” says that you should stay in jail because____________. Socrates declines his plan to get out because he thinks it is just to stay in jail and suffer the punishments for his controversial crime that put him in

Something else that should be noted is the posture of Socrates. His back is completely erect with no support. Everyone else in the picture

The place in which Socrates’ died however was an Athenian jail cell. Before Socrates’ death, he was accused by three men of spreading ideas to the youth of Athens that the gods didn’t exist; this lead to a massive trial of Socrates involving 500 Athenian citizens. The accusers were given three hours to present their case and evidence of Socrates’

In the center of the painting is Plato on the left and Aristotle on the right. These two are showing the two parts within philosophy, Timaeus and Ethics. The other philosophers on the sides are ‘corresponding to the separate schools of thought within the two major divisions, each carrying on the philosophical arguments for which they were famous (Fleming, 304). Plato: (428-c. 347 BC) was a Greek philosopher and one of the most creative and influential thinkers in Western philosophy. Plato founded the Academy in Athens, the institution often described as the first European

“Socrates’ positive influence touches us even today” (May 6) and we can learn a great deal about him from one of his students, Plato. It is in Plato’s report of Socrates’ trial a work entitled, Apology, and a friend’s visit to his jail cell while he is awaiting his death in Crito, that we discover a man like no other. Socrates was a man following a path he felt that the gods had wanted him to follow and made no excuses for his life and they way he lived it.