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  • Essay / Three Perspectives on the Trial of Socrates: Source Analysis

    Plato, a prominent Greek philosopher of the 4th century BC, in his works Euthyphro, Apology and Crito, tells the story of the trial and trial of his teacher, Socrates. subsequent death as a result. Socrates, often considered one of, if not the wisest, Greek philosophers, laid the foundation for much of modern Western philosophy on life, ethics, law, and diplomacy, and is almost entirely known today through the writings of his students, especially those of Plato and Xenophon. In many of Plato's works about Socrates, there is a certain Socratic irony, in which Socrates puts on a facade of ignorance, in order to extract absurd arguments from his interlocutors, as well as elenchus, or cross-examination. In Euthyphro, Plato shows a discussion between Socrates and Euthyphro, one of the judges who oversee religious law, in which Socrates uses Socratic irony and Elenchus to prove that his friend cannot clearly define what is sacred and , through questions, spins Euthyphro's arguments in circles. Plato's next work, Apology, shows Socrates at his trial, where he objects to the idea that he is corrupting the youth of Athens and that he has invented new gods while refusing to accept those which exist. Failed in his trial for a multitude of reasons, Plato's Crito begins with Socrates in his prison cell awaiting his eventual execution. He is approached by his friend Crito, who insists that Socrates flee, because escaping from prison would be easy and he could live comfortably with wealthy friends outside Athens. Socrates, however, refuses to believe that escaping from prison and breaking the laws he has so fiercely defended in the past would contradict all his teachings and destroy his way of life. Although there are contradictions between Plato's Crito, Euthyphro and Apology, particularly in Socrates' thoughts on the afterlife and why Socrates is wise, the teachings of Crito are consistent with those of Euthyphro and Apology, for there is consistency in Socrates' belief as to how a philosopher should live his life, what is virtuous, that one should think carefully, moderately and reasonably, that wisdom is good while ignorance is bad, and that the laws are for the good of the citizen and the State as a whole. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay There are contradictions between what is taught in Crito and what is taught in Euthyphro and Apology, but these contradictions do not make the The whole work is incompatible with the other two. One of these inconsistencies concerns Socrates' view of the afterlife and what a man can know about it. In Plato's Crito, Socrates has the clear idea that his soul is immortal and that his death will simply free his soul to return to its place, as predicted by the beautiful woman in his dream (Crito, 44b) . He also believes that by escaping from prison he would be condemned and punished in Hades, so it would be better to accept his punishment on his mortal body rather than his immortal soul. In Apology, however, Socrates claims to have no knowledge of what happens after death, believing that no man can, but simply reasons not to fear it, that a man at his age (he is sixty -ten years at the time of his trial), should accept it, because it can only be one of two things: annihilation, a deep rest from which we will not awaken, or a transmigration of the soul towards another world (Apology, 41d). Plato, always speaking with tenderness of Socrates and not wanting himdescribe as incoherent, seems to argue that with the end of Socrates' time he gained greater insight into the supernatural and the surreal, and is therefore able to draw the conclusion that death is a transmigration, not an annihilation , that the soul is immortal and its will simply moves where it belongs when released from its body. Another contradiction between Crito and Euthyphro and Apology is whether or not Socrates has expertise in any area, or whether his wisdom comes simply from his ability to denounce ignorance and his knowledge that he has no expertise of its own. In Euthyphro, Socrates uses Socratic irony, claiming to have no expertise or arguments to make on religious matters, and in Apology, Socrates also claims to have no expertise in any area and no special knowledge of anything. or, he simply exposes the ignorance of his interlocutors. by Elenchus (Apology, 23b). Socrates in Crito, however, speaks of the "arguments which I used to expound in the past" (Crito, 46b), which directly contradicts his previous statements that he has no expertise of his own, therefore he does not has no argument to make and simply wishes to present weak arguments to justify their ignorance. While this may constitute a significant contradiction on the part of Socrates or Plato's citation of Socrates, it does not take away from the compatibility of the works. Socrates is renowned for his work in the field of ethics, and his assertion that he has no expertise in anything could be seen as a use of Socratic irony. The teachings of Plato through Socrates in Crito are consistent with many of the teachings of Euthyphro and Apology, one of which is how Socrates believes a philosopher should live his life. In Apology, Socrates is firm in his famous statement that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” According to Socrates in Apology, to be truly virtuous and live a good life, one must question oneself and one's peers that a man's life can only have true meaning and value if he strives to know and understand oneself. Socrates believes that Apollo chose him as the wisest of all men so that he could question those who claim to have great knowledge and show them that their wisdom is as great as their acceptance of their own ignorance (Apology, 22c ). In Crito he makes a similar argument in explaining why he cannot escape from prison. He would have to live in exile in an illegal country, where he would be unable to practice his philosophical discourse, and incapable of carrying out the righteous work that Apollo, according to him, asks of him. If he were to escape and live in exile, he would be unable to question his life and the lives of others out loud, and therefore he would not consider himself fit to live (Crito, 52a). Another consistency in the works is Socrates' belief that to be virtuous he must be just, and although his definition of what is just is questioned by Crito, Socrates remains consistent with his on what he believes is just and unfair. He also consistently argues in Apology and Crito that people do not act unjustly intentionally, but rather do so out of ignorance. Socrates first manifests this belief in the Apology, in which he argues that if he harmed society, he would harm himself, and that he has no reason to harm himself, so if he really does harm, he must do it out of ignorance and not out of ignorance. of malicious intent (Apologies, 25b). When Crito argues to Socrates that he has been judged unjustly and that,.