Apology- Plato
"Socrates is a doer of evil and corrupter of the youth, and he does not believe in the gods of the state. He has other new divinities of his own."(Apology 41) In The Apology, by Plato, these are the accusations brought against Socrates during his trial. Socrates claims that he did not consciously corrupt the youth of Athens, and he gives many reasons why he is not at fault for their actions. In Socrates defense to the jury, he claims that by looking at the facts, the jury will see that Meletus is accusing him of something that is not his fault. Socrates states that he is not responsible for the corruption of the youth, because he was not aware that he was leading them astray. Meletus and Socrates do not have the same definition of corruption. Meletus claims that what Socrates is doing is wrong. Meletus views the corruption of the youth as Socrates telling the children to believe in certain gods contrary to what gods the public believes in. Socrates says that he is not corrupting the youth, because that would mean he was harming them and he knows that he is not. Socrates' defense is well-thought out and logical. Socrates asks Meletus a question, Meletus answers and then Socrates moves on to the nex
Although Socrates tells Meletus he should have told him to stop corrupting the youth, it is hard to believe that he would quit. Instead, he would criticize the leaders of the government, by claiming that they lack intelligence, even though they think they are wise. I do not believe he would have followed Meletus' wishes without any questions or problems. Socrates does a fine job of defending himself in The Apology. He delivers a strong case, stating he is innocent of corrupting the youth of Athens. He contradicts his own testimony and his case has other imperfections. Although he claimed he had nothing to do with the corruption of the youth, he was sentenced to death. He was put to death so he would not instill any new ideas into the minds of his young followers. Socrates asks, "...and when you accuse me of corrupting the youth, do you charge I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally?" "Intentionally, I say," is the obvious answer Meletus gave Socrates. Socrates responds by saying, "...but you just admitted that the good do their neighbors good, and the evil do them evil" (Apology 42) I do not agree with this claim from Meletus. I believe that it is possible for a person to behave in an immoral manner and still be a good person. It is possible for a person to be good even if he has acted in an evil manner at some time in his life. Going 50 in a 35-mile per hour zone is considered to be a bad thing. Does it mean this person is a corrupt individual if he is driving the car fast to get his pregnant wife to the hospital because she is in labor? Humans are innately good, but the corruption of society and the amount of temptations in the world have led moral people into acting unscrupulously. This message that good people do! Socrates did admit it was possible that he may have unintentionally affected Athens' young men, leads me to believe he is admitting he did corrupt the youth. Why would Socrates have to stop
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Approximate Word count = 1315
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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