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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
The trial and death of Socrates has been documented in the writings of his admirer and student, Plato. In Apology, Plato gives an account of the trial of Socrates before the Athenian court. Socrates has been charged with corrupting the youth, not believing in the Gods of the City and changing his religious alliance to other, new divinities. This 5 page paper compares the presentation of Socrates by Plato with the Socrates of Aristophanes and asserts that by simply denying that he has corrupted the youth, asserting that he has a personal oracle to which he gives allegiance and invalidating his belief in the Gods of Athens by believing that he can prove the oracle of Delphi wrong if he can find a person who is wiser than he. Socrates, by his own defense, or lack thereof, shows himself to be guilty of the charges. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Tophanes.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
believing in the Gods of the City and changing his religious alliance to other, new divinities. Socrates restates the charges as being, "an evil-doer, and a curious person, who
searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others". He then refers
to the play, Clouds, by Aristophanes, "That is the nature of the accusation, and that is what you have seen yourselves in the comedy of Aristophanes; who has introduced a
man whom he calls Socrates, going about and saying that he can walk in the air, and talking a deal of nonsense concerning matters of which I do not pretend
to know either much or little ? not that I mean to say anything disparaging of anyone who is a student of natural philosophy". In his own defense, Socrates
denies the charges and refutes the image that has been portrayed by Aristophanes. Socrates denies his status as teacher and that he takes money for his services as
such. He then goes on to explain that the young men come to him because of his reputation as a wise and scholarly man. He explains, "There is
another thing: ? young men of the richer classes, who have not much to do, come about me of their own accord; they like to hear the pretenders examined, and
they often imitate me, and examine others themselves; there are plenty of persons, as they soon enough discover, who think that they know something, but really know little or nothing:
and then those who are examined by them instead of being angry with themselves are angry with me". He is saying, in effect, that the people are looking for
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