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The Trial of Socrates

The charges brought against Socrates:
Spoiling the youth
Not believing in the Athenian gods

Guilt?
Defense?

Socrates was a great philosopher of the Greek world. He was quite an atypical and distinctive person. Being different from all the other philosophers of the land, Socrates was teaching his students ideas totally out of the ordinary from what the society believed was right. As a result, he displeased many people so much that they decided to get rid of him. Socrates was put to trial, accused of spoiling the youth of Athens, tried and sentenced to death. His personal defense is described in works two of his students: Xenophon and Plato. Both of them wrote papers called Apology, which is the Greek word for "defense". In this essay I used Apology by Plato as the main resource, since it contents a more full account of the trial of Socrates and his words. Despite the fact that the philosopher attempted to defend himself and explain the reasons for saying and doing the things he did, it did not do any good for his justification. On the contrary, Socrates' words seemed to make the jury harden their hearts and condemn him.

The charges brought against the philosopher had nothing to do with true crime like we understand it today. He did not commit any physical or financial harm to anybody.

Socrates insulted and angered many people more than any "legitimate" offence ever could. He said too many things that people around him did not like and could not forgive. One of the charges brought against him was corrupting the youth of Athens. Accordingly to the words of those who complained at him, the philosopher was "an evildoer; a meddler who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and makes the worse appear the better cause, and teaches the aforesaid practices to others". Socrates was going around talking to people, asking them different questions about things they already had set beliefs about. He would generally manage to prove to them the complete opposite of what they believed in. Some of them felt seriously annoyed by that. The fact that "aforesaid practices" were being taught to the young people, children of the men Socrates was making fools of, insulted Athenians even more dreadfully. In addition to this, he was also accused in not believing in the gods of the land. This made the picture of the damage he was causing to the state complete. He was passed to the court of several hundred people to form an opinion and determine his future.

Socrates' defense sounded neither satisfying nor pleasing to the jury. He did not even make an attempt to apologize. Instead, he kept making "the worse appear the better cause". He was proving that it was accordingly to the god's judgment he was destined to be the wisest man in the world. "He is a god, and cannot lie; that would be against his nature." The philosopher informed the jury that as a result of a long search for a wiser man, he met many people who were extremely proud of what themselves, but did not know a lot about many things. So, he came to a conclusion that no man is wiser than Socrates who at least knows that he knows very little. The jury saw that he meant that this statement applied to everybody. They took it as a hint for their own foolishness, which made them totally annoyed. These were the things for saying of which the philosopher was first brought to the court! And he still would neither stop doing them nor give up on his opinion. Besides, when asked to propose his own penalty, Socrates suggested an idea for Athens to provide free meals for him till the day he dies. He hinted that he is no less important for Athens than any Olympic victor. He also mentioned that since he became very poor by accepting fees for his lessons, he could not afford to pay any significant fines as a price for his deeds.

There is no way Socrates' defense could make his listeners friendlier to him. And it did not. As a result of it more people voted for his death penalty than chose to convict him in the first place. This man had an amazing ability to displease and irritate people.

I feel very sad for the death of the philosopher. No matter how irritating and disturbing his words and attitude were, he surely did not deserve to die. However, I do feel quite a bit of compassion for his accusers. Socrates was changing their sons' minds by making them question the supremacy and intelligence of the people whose wisdom was recognized in the state. He made young people question even the intelligence of their fathers. It should not have been easy for the fathers to stay put and listen to him philosophizing about his ideas of the world. No wonder Socrates had to beg them to listen to the end and not to interrupt at least three times throughout the Apology.

Despite the fact that I do not quite approve Socrates' attitude and the way he was defending himself, I would not be able to give him any advice on doing it differently. This man had a very insightful, logical and genuine mind. He was teaching his disciples his beliefs. It was his beliefs he spoke about in the court. In order to defend himself and make a positive impression on the jury, Socrates would have had to mask his convictions and pretend to be something he was not at all. Besides, I do not think the he would be able to apologize and promise not to challenge people on their wisdom ever again. He just would not be able to keep the promise! This was his life and Socrates was already seventy years of age - too late to change and start forming his ideas and opinions all over again. If I could speak to the famous Greek now, I would beg him not to provoke the jury and apologize to them, but there is no way for me to believe that he was actually going to follow the advice in any way.

Socrates was an exceptional mind of the Greek civilization. However, as many exceptional minds, he refused to conform to the world which led him to wasting his life and Greeks to wasting one of the most outstanding thinkers in their country for many centuries far ahead.