Socrates: The Apology

A detailed Summary of Socrates: The Apology

Plato's Apology stands as an account of the trial of Socrates. Socrates was a teacher of Plato's, and the dialogue is written in a tribute fashion. It is doubtful that the speeches in the Apology were ever actually presented in a Greek court; the speech was probably constructed of Plato's ideal thoughts of his mentor's stances on the issues of the trial.

Socrates held firm in his beliefs. He had a notion that one should be ready to die for their beliefs, if need be. He also had a unique way of presenting arguments, by exposing the weaknesses in the presentation of the argument. His "Socratic method" took a look at "simple" definitions, and looked harder. Basically, the method questioned the question. It takes a stance to define terms, so that there can be no confusion. In his Euthyphro dialogue, Socrates asks Euthyphro questions about the nature of piety. Euthyphro responds with, "What is agreeable to the gods is pious." (Tredennick, pp. 30-4) Socrates goes further to clarify that this definition will not do. He asks Euthyphro what is to happen if one god finds an act pious, when another does not. In this way of questioning the question, Socrates allows Euthyphro to see th

Again, the fact this dialogue actually occurred is doubtful, historians consider it a eulogy from Plato to his mentor. The speeches are eloquent, surely some of the dialogue came from Socrates. The speech about language in the beginning of the Apology is confusing, since Socrates proves himself a

He responds to the corruption charge with an interesting argument. He asks Meletus (one of the accusers) if it is better to live in a good or bad society. An old Greek law concerning these charges tells us that Socrates should have been taken aside and censured for his actions. Since he was not, Socrates wonders why he has ended up in a court after years of teaching the young. If there was a problem, why wasn't it brought up before? In a way, he is accusing Meletus of sandbagging him into a higher court charge. He also counters by asking who makes the young good. The Jury? The Council? The Assembly? Meletus says yes to all of them. Socrates asks if he alone is corrupting the youth, Meletus affirms it. He makes a great statement:

The dialogue starts with Socrates clarifying the language barrier. He is an old man, an old man who has never been in court; and he begs the court to hear him in his natural tongue. He obviously despises the nature of "court talk", and wishes to be heard on a layman's level. This is essential for him to clarify his speech to the jury, and formalize the definitions of the charges brought against him. Socrates clearly has a plan here; he plans to defeat the charges with early formal logic. He figures that by proving logically that he is not an atheist, that the trial will go his way.

Tredennick, H. Plato:The Last Days of Socrates. Penguin Books.

Kolak, D. Lovers of Wisdom. Wadsworth Publishing Co.

These trials can be compared to a bi-partisan government in some ways. It seems that Meletus wishes to make a public spectacle of him for some reason, while Socrates' truth is obscured as "crazy". The trial does not follow any form of logic; the outcome does not follow the argument. Not to stray too far from the topic, but it gives an idea of how unimportant this line of thinking was to the Greeks, and how much power an accuser could wield in a trial like this.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Meletus Socrates, Socrates Euthyphro, Plato Crito, Socrates Socrates, Assembly Meletus, Plato Socrates, Defense Socrates, Plato's Apology, Co York, trial socrates, meletus socrates, tredennick pg, Books London, dialogue socrates, bitter decision, living philosophy, definition supernatural, tells socrates, gods meletus, finding truth,

Approximate Word count = 1757
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous