The Apology of Socrates (, Apología Sokrátous; ), written by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue of the speech of legal self-defence which Socrates (469–399 BC) spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption in 399 BC.
Specifically, the Apology of Socrates is a defence against the charges of "corrupting the youth" and "not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" to Athens (24b)."Socrates," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 16 Sept. 2005. See: Doug Lindner, "The Trial of Socrates, "Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City Law School 2002.
Among the primary sources about the trial and death of the philosopher Socrates, the Apology of Socrates is the dialogue that depicts the trial, and is one of four Socratic dialogues, along with Euthyphro, Phaedo, and Crito, through which Plato details the final days of the philosopher Socrates. There are debates among scholars as to the reliability of the Apology'''s account of the trial.See Morrison 2000. Donald Morrison. 2000. "On the Alleged Historical Reliability of Plato’s Apology," Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 82 (3): 235-265.Kahn 1996: 97 says the Apology is "the most reliable guide of all our testimonies concerning Socrates." Khan, Charles. 1996. Plato and the Socratic Dialogue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The text of Apology
The Apology of Socrates, by the philosopher Plato (429–347 BC), was one of many explanatory apologiae about Socrates's legal defence against accusations of corruption and impiety; most apologiae were published in the decade after the Trial of Socrates (399 BC). As such, Plato's Apology of Socrates is an early philosophic defence of Socrates, presented in the form of a Socratic dialogue. Although Aristotle later classified it as a genre of fiction, it is still a useful historical source about Socrates (469–399 BC) the philosopher. Aristotle believed the dialogue, particularly the scene where Socrates questions Meletus, represented a good use of interrogation.Rhetoric, Aristotle
Except for Socrates's two dialogues with Meletus, about the nature and logic of his accusations of impiety, the text of the Apology of Socrates is in the first-person perspective and voice of the philosopher Socrates (24d–25d and 26b–27d). Moreover, during the trial, in his speech of self-defence, Socrates twice mentions that Plato is present at the trial (34a and 38b).
Introduction The Apology of Socrates begins with Socrates addressing the jury of perhaps 500 Athenian men to ask if they have been persuaded by the Orators Lycon, Anytus, and Meletus, who have accused Socrates of corrupting the young people of the city and impiety against the pantheon of Athens.
Immediately after, Socrates protests his accusers for telling the audience to guard themselves against his eloquence. He claims that his use of language will be extemporaneous, in his own common manner of interrogating highly respected Athenians, and that he himself is a stranger in the ways of court unaccustomed to giving ornamented speech. Socrates later argues that whatever wisdom he does in fact possess comes from knowing that he knows nothing (23b, 29b).
In the course of the trial, Socrates imitates, parodies, and corrects the Orators, his accusers, and asks the jury to judge him by the truth of his statements, not by his oratorical skill (cf. Lysias XIX 1,2,3; Isaeus X 1; Isocrates XV 79; Aeschines II 24). Socrates says he will not use sophisticated language—carefully arranged ornate words and phrases—but will speak using the common idiom of the Greek language. Socrates says that he will speak in the manner he has used in the agora and at the money tables. Although offered the opportunity to appease the prejudices of the jury, with a minimal concession to the charges of corruption and impiety, Socrates does not yield his integrity to avoid the penalty of death. The jury condemns Socrates to death.
Accusers of Socrates In the society of 5th-century BC Athens, the three men who formally accused the philosopher Socrates of impiety and corruption against the people and the city, officially represented the interests of the politicians and the craftsmen, of the scholars, poets, and rhetoricians. The accusers of Socrates were:
Anytus, a rich and socially prominent Athenian who opposed the Sophists on principle.The Oxford Classical Dictionary 1966, p. 65 Socrates says that Anytus joined the prosecution because he was "vexed on behalf of the craftsmen and politicians" (23e–24a); moreover, Anytus appears in the Meno dialogue (90f). Whilst Socrates and Meno (a visitor to Athens) are discussing Virtue, Anytus unexpectedly appears before them, and overhears their conversation. From the philosophic stance that virtue cannot be taught, Socrates adduces that many socially prominent Athenians have produced sons who are inferior to themselves, as fathers; Socrates names several such men, including Pericles and Thucydides. In the event, Anytus is offended by the observation, and warns Socrates that stepping on people's toes (kakós legein) could, someday, cause trouble for him (Meno 94e–95a). Meletus, the only accuser to speak during Socrates's speech of self-defence; he was the tool of Anytus, the true enemy of Socrates.The Oxford Classical Dictionary 1966, p. 554 Socrates says that Meletus joined the prosecution because he was "vexed on behalf of the poets" (23e); moreover, Meletus features in the Euthyphro dialogue. At trial, Socrates identifies Meletus as an unknown, young man with an aquiline nose. In the Apology of Socrates, Meletus agrees to be cross-examined by Socrates, whose questions lead Meletus into a semantic trap. Inattentive to the logical implications of his accusations of corruption and impiety, Meletus contradicts himself in accusing Socrates of atheism and of believing in demigods. Lycon, who represented the professional rhetoricians as an interest group. Socrates says that Lycon joined the prosecution because he was "vexed on behalf of the rhetoricians" (24a). That he joined the prosecution because he associated Socrates with the pro–Spartan Oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants (404 BC), who killed his son, Autolycus. As a prosecutor of Socrates, Lycon also is a figure of ridicule in a play by Aristophanes and had become a successful democratic politician in the democracy restored after the fall of the Oligarchy of the Four Hundred (411 BC).
Accusations In his defence at trial, Socrates faced two sets of accusations: (i) asebeia (impiety) against the pantheon of Athens, by introducing new gods; and (ii) corruption of Athenian youth. Socrates says to the court that these old accusations arise from years of gossip and prejudice against him; hence, are matters difficult to address. He then summarizes in his own words the accusations from the orators against him in legal form: "Socrates is 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" (19b-c).
Socrates also says that the accusations for which he is answering in court already had been spoken and published by the comic poet Aristophanes, and are therefore beyond the legal scope of a trial for corruption and impiety. Years earlier, in the play The Clouds (423 BC), Aristophanes lampooned Socrates as a charlatan, the paradigm philosopher of atheist and scientific sophistry—carefully arranged arguments constructed of ornate words and phrases—misrepresented as wisdom. In light of that definition, Socrates defensively argues that he cannot be mistaken for a Sophist philosopher because Sophists are wise men, are thought to be wise by the people of Athens, and, thus, are highly paid for their teaching; whereas he (Socrates) lives in ten-thousand-fold poverty, and knows nothing noble and good (23c).
Impiety For his self-defence, Socrates first eliminates any claim that he is a wise man. He says that Chaerephon, reputed to be impetuous, went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked her, the prophetess, Pythia, to tell him of anyone wiser than Socrates. The Pythia answered to Chaerephon that there was no man wiser. On learning of that oracular pronouncement, Socrates says he was astounded, because, on the one hand, it is against the nature of the Oracle to lie, but, on the other hand, he knew he was not wise. Therefore, Socrates sought to find someone wiser than himself, so that he could take that person as evidence to the Oracle at Delphi. Hence why Socrates minutely queried everyone who appeared to be a wise person. In that vein, he tested the minds of politicians, poets, and scholars, for wisdom; although he occasionally found genius, Socrates says that he found no one who possessed wisdom; yet, each man was thought wise by the people, and each man thought himself wise; therefore, he thought he was the better man, because he was aware that he was not wise.
Corruption of the youth
Socrates explained that the young, rich men of the city of Athens have little to do with their time. They, therefore, follow him about the city, observing his questioning of the arguments made by other Athenians and their exposed ignorance of their own pretensions. In turn, young men imitate the method of Socrates. Socrates thought that the arguments of the men he examined were wanting, and when he said this, to not lose face, they would restate stock accusations against Socrates; that he is a morally abominable man who corrupts the youth of Athens with sophistry and atheism. In his defence, Socrates said: "For those who are examined, instead of being angry with themselves, are angry with me!".
The dialogue The Apology of Socrates, by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue in three parts that cover the Trial of Socrates (399 BC): (i) the legal self-defence of Socrates, (ii) the verdict of the jury, and (iii) the sentence of the court.
Part one: The defence of Socrates Socrates begins his legal defence by telling the jury that their minds were poisoned by his enemies when they (the jury) were young and impressionable. He also says that his false reputation as a sophistical philosopher comes from his enemies and that all of them are malicious, yet must remain nameless—except for the playwright Aristophanes, who lampooned him (Socrates) as a charlatan-philosopher in the comedy play The Clouds (423 BC). About corrupting the rich, young men of Athens, Socrates argues that deliberate corruption is an illogical action because it would hurt him, as well. He says that the accusations of him being a corrupter of youth began at the time of his obedience to the Oracle at Delphi, and tells how Chaerephon went to the Oracle, to ask her, the Pythian prophetess, if there was a man wiser than Socrates. When Chaerephon reported to him that the Oracle said there is no wiser man, Socrates interpreted that divine report as a riddle—because he was aware of possessing no wisdom "great or small", and that lying is not in the nature of the gods.
The wisest man