Socrates and the Examined Life

Socrates (470-399BCE): born in Athens, Grece, 9 years after Confucious died, 13 years after the Buddha died.

Plato was his main student knowledge of Socrates comes through Plato's writings and his portrayal in other Greek literatature (e.g., Aristophane's The Clouds).

Notes on Plato's Apology

Terms

Socratic method (elenchus) -- the maieutic method
episteme (tue knowledge) vs doxa (mere opinion)

Discussion

The Apology professes to be a record of the actual speech that Socrates delivered at his own defense at the trial

Condemned to death by the Athenian Senate on the charges of:

not believing in the Gods and setting up false gods;
corrupting the youth of Athens. (e.g., Callias was wealthy, beautiful, and lead a lewd life—is Socrates the cause of this?)

Drank hemlock and died.

Charges Against Socrates and the Trial

Authors of the charges against Socrates are

Meletus, authored the charges against Socrates
Anytus—statesman, perhaps the real power behind charges. Defender of traditional values, was most concerned with the corruption of the youth
Lycon was an orator whose son, by one account, was corrupted by Callias (this "corruption" was not just moral and philosophical but sexual as well)!
(also Aristophanes was mentioned directly as one of the older accusors—author of the Clouds)

Specific remarks about the text

The numbers below (i.e., 18c) refer to numbers found in almost all versions of Greek philosophy texts which let you compare a translation to the original, or to other translations. These numbers are used to keep track of where you are in the text and are generally used in place of page numbers. The notes below use them even though our textbook does not. Notes are based on: Grube, G. M. A., ed. 1981. Plato: Five Dialogues. New York: Hackett Publishing.

18c Socrates’ account of the charges against him. He is worried about the older charges because they have seeped in to the minds of people when they were children

18e "fighting with shadows" is a veiled reference to the biases of the judges

19c Socrates reads the official charges as Meletus wrote them

24b/c charge 2

24c-25e Meletus claims that Socrates alone is the corrupter of youth, and that every Athenian but Socrates improves the youth

23d: Socrates answers the claim that he corrupts young men—they follow him, and he does not seek them out.

25e Socrates claims that he either does not corrupt the young, or he does so unintentionally

27 Socrates defends himself against the charge of being an atheist

Socrates is condemned

37a Soc recommends that he be given free meals—he feels he deserves a reward

Socratic basis for wisdom and Socractic practice:

What is the Socratic dialectic?

Ground of wisdom is in a riddle from the Oracle at Delphi

21c: Socrates talks about the claim that there is no one wiser, according to the oracle at Delphi. Note the oracle was a woman, and that her words are the source of the claim Socrates is wise

21d—where Socrates formulates his view of knowledge—he is wiser than others in only one thing—that he does not think he knows when he does not know

22a Socrates goes about and asks questions of other, purportedly wise people. And what does he find? That they think they are wise when in fact they are not.

23 b. Socrates believes he is ordered by the god Apollo to go around and seek wisdom

30e Socrates as the gadfly

30b Socrates’ account of what he does

View of wisdom as leading to moral conduct

30d a bad man cannot harm a better person

In what sense is this so?

True harm involves remaining in the wretchedness of ignorance and vice.
Each of us is personally responsible for the state of our persons
Our own moral pollution of our soul is worse than what others can do to us
Each can move out of this wretchedness through our own effort (through philosophical inquiry!) and once enlightened no one can impose this evil on us

34d Soc says he won’t appeal to pity (and he certainly doesn’t break down in front of the jury) but does he in a subtle way? He is a man, like them? He has kids?

35d Soc accepts a problematic view of women which is rejected by Plato

35c Better to inform and persuade a person than to punish her. Is this different than in our world today. How do you respond when someone holds a moral view you disagree with? Do you engage them?

38a Soc could go free if only he could hold his tongue—why can’t he? What does he say? What do you think? To what extent are you willing to go along in order to get along?

38d Soc says he is old in years and not far from death

39a Socrates believes in standing on principle regardless of the consequences even if they involve death! Self-concern pales in comparison to the pursuit of the good, the true, and the just. As a result, it is far better to suffer injustice than, through ignorance, to cause it. One can only wonder how many of us would have the courage to do the same.

40c Soc says the oracle did not oppose his death. Why did he say this? Is Soc trying to console those who are losing him?

41a death is night, and then the afterlife is as a single night; or results in the ability to talk with philosophers in the underworld

Why is Socrates so confident of his own deathlessness?

Reading Questions over Socrates and the Examined Life

What is the main point Socrates made by telling the story of the Oracle at Delphi?
How does Socrates defend himself against the charge of corrupting the youth and the charge of atheism?
At one point Socrates compares himself to a gadly (horsefly) and the Athenians to a thoroughbred horse. What is the point of this comparison?
Socrates asserts that the unexamined life is not worth living. Imagine living your life using the Socratic method to examine your own beliefs and actions as well as the beliefs and actions of others. Would this be a good way to live or not? Why?
What are some basic assumptions made by Socrates in his response to the verdict of death?
How do you think Socrates would answer the question, "How should one live?"
What did you not understand? What did you not agree with?