Apology essay

Socrates is a philosopher whose ideas can be discussed for many hours. It is difficult to exaggerate his role in philosophy. He was a genius indeed. Socrates was called the most intelligent person despite the fact that he insisted he knew nothing. His life and his method of cognition were deeply bound. Socrates could usually be found in different public areas making conversations with various people. He was interested in talking with all of them – young and old, male and female, slave and free, rich and poor. In comparison to other great philosophers, he decided not to leave Athens for travelling. Being against writing, he chooses to devote his life to finding the truth. His ideals and thoughts can be considered more than just relevant to our modern life. Socrates’ ‘Apology’ is the answer to unfair and empty charges. The main point of his speech was that he was not guilty but charged for his wide worldview and awareness of human nature that appeared to be unacceptable for some members of the society he lived in. Nevertheless, Socrates’ life was pure disproof of all charges being benefaction for the whole republic.

 

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There were two main charges against Socrates. The first one was ungodliness and the second one was corruption of young minds. In ‘Apology’ Socrates dispels both charges. From the very beginning, Socrates says he will protect himself with the help of simple words. He states that both charges are nothing more than just a product of false gossips. From his point of view, he does not deserve imprisonment or exile. Talking about ungodliness, Socrates opposes it saying that he did not accept any new idols. Even if he accepted new idols, he could not be considered ungodly. In case he only believed in the power of clouds, he could possibly be called atheist. Furthermore, Socrates said that he had never ever been involved in the issues of community. Ad locum he contradicts himself. He stated that he would never give up fighting with injustice. So if he wanted to fight for something he would struggle for good and fairness with philosophy.

Indeed Socrates talked about very usual and evident things as for our lifetime. In those times it was revelation. In his life, he used to seek for ultimate truth. Socrates used to meet many people. Some of them were musicians, some of them were poets and others were common craftsmen. He even talked to a few governmental officers. All his talks were aimed at finding out who was wiser. But he only faced pathetic and false self-conviction. Socrates’ dialogues with different people attracted young minds. They began to follow him and listen to him very attentively. However, they did not pay any money to Socrates. Of course, with time they began to practice such kind of conversations on their own. Government decided to blame Socrates for his actions. The talks and conversations of Socrates and his pupils made people think. That was the hidden charge against Socrates. It sounded like corruption of young minds but it had a more serious nature. Unfortunately, it is inadmissible to control citizens who have a strong conscious of reality around them. Socrates was one of them. He said that he wanted to wake up those who felt asleep and saw nothing around. The only thing he wanted was to help people define the true values of life. The corruption of young minds had nothing common with what Socrates did.

Socrates defended himself in a very discrete and worthy way. He explained what he did and what people could lose dooming him to death. Unfortunately, Socrates was condemned to death anyway. In fact, however, he was not guilty. First of all, his followers chose to listen to him themselves and it was their free will. Secondly, Socrates said that he revered gods and let them judge his destiny. However, we can see that ‘Apology’ rules out all possible charges against him, making it senseless.