Apology

1. Socrates was another great example of “liberty after sacrifices”. He challenged the status of people through observation, examination and conversation. He followed politicians, artists and craftsmen and found that they “were good workmen they thought that they also knew all sorts of high matters, and this defect in them overshadowed their wisdom” (Apology, 300). He then attempted to make them aware of their weaknesses by explaining to them that they thought they were wise, but not really wise; and the consequence was that they hated him (Apology, 299). I personally found this very similar to Revolutionary War when people had to sacrifice for liberty, which had a huge impact on protests and activism occurring today. Socrates sacrificed himself and his freedom to inform the people his idea of this philosophy liberty which sparked more critical philosophical thoughts.
2. This speech used great rhetoric heavily relied on pathos and logos, which I think helped him in front of the jury. Socrates’ pathos was reflected when he addressed himself when he asked Athens “are you not ashamed of heaping up the largest amount of money and honor and reputation, and caring so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard nor heed at all” (Apology, 306). He tried to challenge the emotions of the people to make them feel ashamed for making mistakes. He also used a lot of logos throughout, especially when he challenged Meletus through a series of questioning that could help extract a logical answer. Unfortunately, I believe that the ethos was lacking, but that’s probably because he was accused, thus he didn’t have any credibility to start with. However, I believe he still tried by telling the people that he was not arguing for his own sake, as they may think, but for theirs as a gift of God (Apology, 307).

1. I don’t really know what Socrates was trying to accomplish after he was found guilty, and how he viewed death. Sure, he glorified his death by telling the judges that he would die many times to continue his teaching (Apology, 306). But later, he also mentioned that he called death, in the form of penalty, was also a suffering (Apology, 311). He wasn’t scared of death nor regret his teachings, but he also viewed it as a suffering. I believe this might’ve been used to convince the judges that they made a mistake, but at the same time, he was prepared for it so he felt indifferent.
2. Why did Socrates label himself as a God given gift when addressing himself to the people (Apology, 307) and make him sound like a superior saying that the people will injure themselves more if they vote Socrates guilty? I don’t know why he was so bold in front of the judges instead of trying to convince people that he brings no harm; I believe the aggressiveness might’ve made him less appealing. I believe that he said it to make him more credible so people would vote in favor of him, but not after he just insulted a group of people for their wise, so what was his goal?

1. For Socrates, what does punishment mean? Is the worst punishment death or silence?
2. Athens was known for its democracy. Was this form of government good or bad in front of Socrates?