The Trial And Death Of Socrates : The Trial And Death Of Socrates

In Phaedo, Socrates uses the soul and body to express the distinction between the forms and appearances. Socrates describes the soul as “divine, deathless, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, always the same as itself, whereas the body is most like that which is human, mortal, multiform, unintelligible, soluble, and never consistently the same” (Phaedo 80b). Furthermore, Socrates believes there is a “future awaits men after death” (Phaedo 63c) because it might be “a relocating for the soul from here to another place” (Apology 40d). Socrates believes “the one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death” (Phaedo 64a) because philosophers are stuck “in a kind of prison” (Phaedo 62b) struggling to acquire knowledge.

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

Socrates’ death has always been a central topic when mentioning about ancient Greek philosophical practices. While some may view his death as an epitome of courage, whether or why Socrates was courageous is still uncertain and, rising an even more important question, whether Socrates considered himself brave is worth acquiring. Considering his definition of courage, implied in Laches 189e-199e, and his views towards death, argued both in Apology 38c-42a and Phaedo 63e-114e, I found the answer to this question to be quite certain. In this paper, I want to argue that Socrates is courageous facing death, and he himself would very likely to agree. More specifically, I will first draw a clear line of what Socrates considers to be the definition of courageous action from Laches. After we fully obtained Socrates’ view on what courage is to be, we should then discuss what “death” means to Socrates according to various dialogues recorded his account of the afterlife and immortal soul, especially in Apology and Phaedo.

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.

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’.

The charges against Socrates were brought upon him by a man names Meletus. Meletus was a young man that Socrates did not know very well. These charges brought on by Meletus caused the indictment of Socrates. One of the charges in the affidavit written by Meletus against Socrates is that he is "corrupting the youth." Another charge that is brought upon Socrates is that of he is making up new Gods and disregarding the old Gods the Athenians believe in. These were the charges brought on Socrates.

So to sum up the trial, the charges against him were officially two, corrupting the youth and impiety. The two charges were, of course, linked, and, in the relevant senses, he was, we must admit, guilty of at least one of them. For his effect on the lives of the young men who followed him was indeed disrupting, and even corrupting, of the social order. What his followers learned from him above all else, is to do two things. They learned to scrutinize, and they learned to be skeptical. It was not that they mindlessly adopted a motto like "trust no one over 30," or that they became, like many of today 's young people, contrary simply for the sake of being contrary. Rather, they learned not to take on authority or on faith what others told them about virtue, justice, or piety; they were seeking, as was Socrates himself, the truth of the matter and the reasons for taking it to be the truth of the matter. And as we all know, the relentless pursuit of the truth produces enemies. A Socrates may in the long run serve mankind, but in the short run he aggravates virtually everyone around him.

In Plato’s: The Apology Socrates was charged and put on trial for impiety, as well as accused of committing many other crimes. I will first explain the most important issues of why Socrates was sent to death. Then I will argue the position that Socrates is innocent, and should not be have been found guilty.

According to the majority of the jury members of Athens, Socrates is a corruption to the youth, doer of evil and does not agree with the gods of his people. In the Apology, written by Plato these are the assumptions and accusations Socrates is held in court for. In court, he is faced with what most men fear, being wrongly accused leading to the death sentence. Socrates argues and strives to prove that he has no fear of being hated, being accused of serious crimes, being threatened with punishment, or being put to death.

Socrates was brought into the courts under charges of impiety and corruption of minors. Socrates did not believe in the divinities of the city-state. The punishment decided upon was an execution, in the hope that Socrates would choose exile, a punishment that would have satisfied the jury.

Four accusations about Socrates are that he commits injustice and is a busybody; he investigates things in the heavens and beneath the earth; he does not acknowledge the gods; he makes the weaker argument the stronger; he teaches this to others; he corrupts the young (Plato, Apology, 18c-19b, pg 47). While he is guilty of the first, second, fifth and sixth accusations, he is innocent of the third and the fourth.

Liberation here in the visible realm comes from recognizing the hindering function of the body in the soul's search for knowledge. Socrates comments that a soul associated too closely with the

Socrates then discusses what it would take for an individual and community to achieve self-discipline or self-mastery. To achieve self-discipline one needs to have complete control between all three parts of the soul. When someone has achieved the sense of self-discipline the rational part of the soul has taken control of both the spirited and appetite. “There are better and worse elements in persons mind, and when the part which is naturally better is in control of the worse part, then we use the phrase self-mastery.” (Plato, 431a) When you’re spirited and desire parts of the soul do the job of the rational, you may make decisions that are not morally right. As in a community you would want the guardians to make the decisions rather than the farmers and fisherman because they lack the knowledge to make the decisions that make the community prosper. To Plato the soul is immortal and lives on after death and the body decays.

This can been seen when Socrates is talking with a few of his followers shortly before he is to be put to death for going against the Athenian government, and he says “I imagine that the soul reasons at its best when none of those things distracts it, whether hearing, sight, pain, or indeed any of the so-called pleasures – when it comes to be as much as possible by itself, saying goodbye to the body, and when it strives to understand what things really are” .

"...I spend all of my time going about trying to persuade you, young and old, to make your first and chief concern not for your bodies nor for your possessions, but for the highest welfare of your souls..." (Plato 62). He bases his arguments in an understanding that people can only be wise when their souls are free from their bodies, because the senses interfere with inquiry (Plato 131). Socrates admits, however, that throughout life the body and the soul are connected. They only separate at death, which he explains as "...the separate condition by itself of the soul when released from the body" (Plato 108). Based on this assumption, Socrates encourages people to give up bodily pleasures such as food, sex, and fancy clothes so that their souls can be as free as possible from their sensual bodies (Plato 108). Siddhartha uses the term Self to express the concept of the soul and the body. In order to free himself of the influences of the body on his soul, Siddhartha attempts "...to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure, and sorrow-to let the Self die" (Hesse 14). However, he too finds it impossible to completely separate the soul and the body so that he can discover truth.