Plato’s Apology

Posted: January 6th, 2014

Apology Paper
You can get Plato’s Apology for free on the Web. There is a link to it on the Homepage
The argumentative paper should be about five pages, double-spaced, in 12 or 14 font with standard margins. Adhere to the MLA Style Manual. Remember the title of a book like the Apology should be underlined or printed in italics. Put your name on every page of your paper.

Pretend you are on the jury. Would you find Socrates guilty or not guilty? WHY? Read over the dialogue and background sheet carefully. Consider the four charges and how he answers each one. Don’t get lost in the other details of the story. It’s easy to do because Plato was the best writer of the ancient Greek world.

There are at least two ways to write a paper of this sort. One way is the narrative style. That is where you tell the story of the Apology. This is a dangerous way because most students who use this style end up getting lost in the details of the story and forgetting about some or all of the four charges. A better way is the topic approach. This is where you list the four charges, give Socrates response to each one, give your verdict, and your reasons for it. After you’ve done that, you can bring in other material from the story if you wish.Here are some common mistakes I have seen over the years: Socrates was a Christian, Why? Because he uses the word “god”. Sure he was! He lived in 400 B. C.!! As far as we know, he believed in many gods. Ignore one or more of the charges, usually the physicist charge
Collapse the physicist charge into the god charge. Ignore the background sheet I make available. Refer to Socrates as “Plato”. Make your paper just a succession of quotes from the Apology. I know what the dialogue says. I want to know what you say. Plagiarize (copy) your paper from someone else. Be uncritically ethnocentric. Assume what is true and valuable today in America was so in ancient Athens. Use autobiography as a reason. For example, “I think Socrates was innocent because I was raised a Christian and he believed in God and so was a good, God fearing man.” Autobiography is irrelevant. The next student was raised a Hindu or atheist, so who is right? Autobiography is too idiosyncratic (look it up). In philosophy and science, we need public reasons. A recommended book is I. F. Stone, The Trial of Socrates.

APOLOGY BACKGROUND

First, this is not a direct transcript of Socrates trial. It’s too dramatic to be that. Still, we assume it is mostly factually correct.

Plato is a great writer. He presents his teacher Socrates in so positive a light that Socrates has become immortal. Plato wanted to use Socrates as an example of the Life of Reason. Plato wanted to sell this life to the Greeks, who had thought the life of action (warrior and statesman) was best.

As you read, Socrates alienates lots of important folks by questioning them in public in front of a lot of wealthy young men. You can imagine that the young people love to see important people embarrassed in public just as they would love it today.

Socrates is charged with being a Physicist (inquiring in the heavens and below the earth), a Sophist (making the worse argument appear the better), not believing in the gods of Athens, and corrupting the young.

Physicists were natural philosophers, the first Western scientists. They rejected some of the myths about the gods and wanted to seek scientific or natural explanations for phenomena. Don’t assume Socrates was one simply because being a physicist today is a praiseworthy occupation. Also, don’t collapse the Physicist charge into the atheist charge. Read what he says about his being a Physicist.

Sophist were paid tutors who traveled from Greek city-state to city-state teaching the young. They believed morals were nothing but customs that differed from city to city and ought not be taken seriously. They taught the youth fallacies, tricks in arguing that we will study later) to get what they wanted from the assemblies of citizens. It was public speaking plus fallacies. It was get what you can any way you can. The last two charges need no explanation. Can you see how they fit? If Socrates is a Physicist, then he might not believe in the godsthe way the common people do. If he doesn’t believe in the godsof Athens and has wealthy young men as students, he is probably also a Sophist who does not respect the moral code of Athens. If so, he is corrupting the youth. Wrong religion; wrong or no morals. However, Socrates never traveled nor charged tuition.
By the way, he says he has a daimon (a spirit like a guardian angel) that tells him when he shouldn’t do things. This is not the same as the Christian demon or devil.
To add to the citizens’ distrust of Socrates, he does not serve in the democratic government. Democracy was something pretty new and the citizens felt it was a privilege to serve, maybe like the people in Iraq feel about the first time they got to vote. Socrates and Plato think only the wise man should rule.
Socrates says he would not live long if he served in government and gives two examples. Yet he also says he will not stop questioning people even if faced with death. To add insult to injury, two of the young men who followed Socrates around ended up betraying the Athenian democracy. I am not saying Socrates is guilty. I just want you to see the prosecution’s side of the trial. Plato does a magnificent job for the defense. You decide. I am looking at your arguments for why you made your decision. There is one quote in this dialogue that is the most famous quote in Plato: “The unexamined life is not worth living (or, literally, “is not the life of a human being.” ) He wants us to examine the morals we were brought up with and put them on a firm foundation. In that way, we will defeat the Sophists who said moral were simply accidental customs that differ from society to society