March 28 2024
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Socrates
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Introduction to Philosophy
Plato, "The Apology"
Abstract: Plato's account of Socrates' defense
elucidates some main princples of the Socratic philosophy: (1)
the Socratic paradox, (2) the Socratic method, (3)tending one's
soul, and (4) death is not to be feared.
- Notes are arranged in accordance with the reading questions
from Plato's Apology in Chapters 4 and 5 in Reading for Philosophical
Inquiry, Version 0.21.
- Questions from the chapter beginning:
Chapter 4: "Just Do What's
Right
- What are the specific charges brought against Socrates,
and why do you think he was so charged? Is Socrates being
charged with being a Sophist? Is he being accused of
offering scientific explanations for religious matters?
- Why doesn't Socrates plead for a lesser charge? Why
couldn't he accept exile?
- How does Socrates show that he does not corrupt the young
people of Athens? Are his arguments convincing?
- Explain Socrates' defense of his belief in God. How
persuasive do you find it?
- What is Socrates' philosophy of life? Why has it been
called paradoxical?
- Explain why Socrates compares himself to a "gadfly."
What does he mean when he uses this term?
- Questions from the chapter beginning:
Chapter 5: "Seek Truth Rather
than Escape Death"
- Why doesn't Socrates plead for a lesser charge in order to
save his life? Why did he feel that he couldn't accept
exile?
- Explain how Socrates' argument that death should not be
feared rests on "the Socratic Paradox."
- Characterize as clearly as possible Socrates' conception
of the soul. Does the existence of the soul presuppose an
afterlife? Explain why or why not from a Socratic point of
view.
- In what way do you think Socrates' defense exhibits irony?
How is his irony related to his being a "gadfly"?
- Responses to the questions from Plato's "Apology."
- Answers from the chapter beginning:
Chapter 4: "Just Do What's
Right
- What are the specific charges brought against Socrates,
and why do you think he was so charged? Is Socrates being
charged with being a Sophist? Is he being accused of
offering scientific explanations for religious matters?
- Summary of the charges against Socrates:
- Impiety: he does not believe in the gods whom the state
believes in—he seeks natural explanations for natural
processes
- He teaches people to disbelieve the gods—a charge
suggested in Aristophanes's play Clouds, Socrates
is protrayed as an atheist.
- He corrupts the young; he infuses in them a spirit of
criticism—Socrates did attract attention from wealthy
young men in Athens as he cross-examined prominent citizens
in the marketplace. It's quite possible from time to time,
he accepted some support from them. In his examination of
politicians, poets, and philosophers, he reveals that they
do not know what they claim to know.
- He is a wrongdoer; he speculates about the heaven and
things beneath the earth—perhaps this is the
basis of the charge of disbelief in the gods if Socrates
seeks natural explanations for astronomical and geological
phenomena rather than attributing natural events to the
gods.
- He makes the weaker reason seem to the the
stronger—Socrates here is being accused of being a
Sophist.
- Originally the Sophists were known as the Seven
Sages of Greece, early Greek philosophers, but later
applied in a derogatory sense to teachers who taught
rhetoric and spurious reasoning. Again Aristophanes's play
portrays Socrates as a teacher or rhetoric and astronomy.
- The Sophists were itenerate teachers who were the
encyclopedists, the polymaths, who knew a little about
everything—in general, they were skeptical with
regard to ethics and knowledge.
- Unlike philosophers, they took payment for their
teaching and were accused of "corrupting the youth."
Brief examples of sophistical arguments include:
- Your fourth finger is longer than your little
finger but shorter than your middle finger. Thus, a
finger is both long and short.
- Here is proof that you are on the other side of
campus. Do you know where the Bell Tower is? Well,
then you know that you are on the other side of campus
from the Bell Tower.
- Consider the well-known story of Euthalus and Protagoras.
Euthalus wanted to become a lawyer but could not pay Protagoras.
Protagoras agreed to teach him under the condition that
if Euathlus won his first case, he would pay Protagoras,
otherwise not. Euathlus agreed and finished his course of study
and but did enter the courts. Protagoras sued for his fee.
- Protagoras argued: If Euthalus loses this case,
then he must pay (by the judgment of the court). If Euthalus
wins this case, then he must pay (by the terms of the
contract). He must either win or lose this case. Therefore
Euthalus must pay me.
- But Euathlus had learned well the art of rhetoric. He
responded: "If I win this case, I do not have to pay
(by the judgment of the court). If I lose this case, I do
not have to pay (by the contract). I must either win or
lose the case. Therefore, I do not have to pay Protagoras.
- Why doesn't Socrates plead for a lesser charge? Why
couldn't he accept exile?
- Socrates's understanding of himself is that life is not
worth living is he cannot choose what is right (c.f.,
the Socratic paradox.
- Socrates notes that he cannot change and improve his soul; hence,
if he went elsewhere, he would continue his questioning. Citizens
of other city-states would probably tolerate his questionings even
less well than his fellow Athenians. Undoubtedly, he would be
continually expelled or worse.
- Socrates claims that he is following the god's order to examine
his fellow citizens. Chaerephon asked the Delphic Oracle if
there were any man living who was wiser than Socrates. The Oracle
answered was "no." Yet, Socrates did not see himself as being
wise, so through questioning of others, he realized the basis of
the Oracle's statement of his wisdom was that he knew that he
did not know.
- Socrates proposes the following dilemma:
- If I drive away the young men, they will persuade their
parents to expel me.
- If I allow them to stay, their fathers will expel me
[on account of the influence on their sons].
- [Either I drive them away or I allow them to stay.]
- ------------------------------------------------------
- Thus, either they will persuade their parents to expel me
or their fathers will expel me.
- The use of the dilemma is in a sense a sophistic rhetorical
device which is effective in a courtroom but of little logical
significance. Let's spend a moment analyzing the dilemma. There
are three ways to refute a dilemma:
- Take it by the horns: i.e., show that at least
one of the conditionals is false. For example, if Socrates
drives the young men away, it's unlikely they could induce
their parents to expel him.
- Escape between the horns: i.e., show that the
disjunction is false. For example, Socrates could not control
whether or not the young men stay and listen.
- Set up a counter-dilemma: negate the consequents of
the conditionals and switch them for new conditional statements.
Then draw the conclusion as in the following argument:
- If I drive away the young men, their fathers will not expel
me.
- If I do not drive them away, they won't persuade their
parents to expel me.
- [Either I drive them away or I allow them to stay.]
- ------------------------------------------------------
- Thus, either their fathers will not expel me or they
won't persuade their fathers to expel me.
- How does Socrates show that he does not corrupt the young
people of Athens? Are his arguments convincing?
- Socrates's answer to this charge, more than any other, exhibits
coutroom . He states that the charge of corruption of
the youth is a "stock charge" against all philosophers. The charge
may well be common against Sophists, but such a defense is
irrelevant to Socrates's situation. The relevant question is not
the ad hominem but is rather
whether or not the charge is true in this case.
- Socrates professes ignorance: he states that he knows nothing so how could he possibly
teach the young people anything? If somehow a young person were corrupted,
then the corruption was unintentional. This is an odd defense for
Socrates to make, since, as a result of the Socratic
Paradox, Socrates believes we are morally responsible for
knowledge or the lack thereof. An unintentional action results
from ignorance, and a person is responsible for what is not
known.
.
- Finally, Socrates states the ad
ignorantiam argument that there is no one present testifying
that he was corrupted. In a court of law, of course, there is the
burden of proof on the prosecution, and evidence or testimony need
be offered for those charges. But from a logical point of view,
Socrates's argument is the ad ignorantiam fallacy:
- No proof has been placed into evidence that anyone has been
corrupted.
- --------------------------------------------------
- Therefore, no one has been corrupted.
- Explain Socrates' defense of his belief in God. How
persuasive do you find it?
- First, Socrates simply points out the contradiction between
the two groups of accusers: he can't be an atheist and at the same
time believe in false gods. But, of course, this response does
not address the emotional effect of the charge of impiety.
- Second, Socrates presents the linguistic argument that if he
believes in divine things, then he cannot be an atheist. Since
there is evidence for the antecedent of the conditional, the truth
of the consequent does follow.
- Socrates does not address philosophical reasons for his belief
in the gods; he merely demonstrates the errors in the prosecution's
charges.
- What is Socrates' philosophy of life? Why has it been
called paradoxical?
- A number of statements in the "Apology" point to the
heart of the Socratic philosophy: the Socratic
Paradox.
- Socrates states at the beginning of his defense: "Give
your whole attention to the question, is what I say just, or
is it not?"
- He believes that you should only do what's right—irrespective
of matters of life or death. (Socrates later offers a proof
that no harm can come to a good person and death is not to be
feared.)
- Your life should be spent on the improvement of your soul.
- The unexamined life is not worth living.
- The Socratic Paradox: People act immorally, but they do
not do so deliberately.
- Everyone seeks what is most serviceable to oneself or what is
in one's own self-interest.
- If one [practically] knows what is good, one will always
act in such manner as to achieve it. (Otherwise, one does not
know or only knows in a theoretical fashion.)
- If ons acts in such a way that it is not conducive to one's
good, then that person must have been mistaken (i.e.,
one isignorant).
- If one acts with knowledge then one will obtain that
which is serviceable to oneself or that which is in
self-interest.
- Thus, for Socrates…
- knowledge = (df.) virtue, good, arete
- ignorance = (df.) bad, evil, not useful
- Since no one knowingly harms himself, if harm comes to that
person, then that person must have acted in ignorance.
- Consequently, it would seem to follow we are responsible for
what we know or for that matter what we do not know. So, then,
one is responsible for ones own happiness.
- Examples of the Paradox explained in practice.
- Cheryl and her friend Holly, both twelve years old decide to
go to the movies. Cheryl, unlike her friend Holly, states
that she is eleven so that she will not have to pay the adult
admission and will have extra money for snacks. Holly refuses
to do so since her parents have told her that if she cannot
pay the admission of a twelve year old, then she doesn't have
enough money to go the the movies.
- Cheryl gives Holly some of her extra snacks as a way of
showing Holly that Holly made a foolish decision.
- If we asked Cheryl if she made the right decision, she
would happily say, "Yes, of course!" If we were
to ask Holly if she made the right decision, Holly
would perhaps glumly say,"Yes, I did the right
thing."
- Explain why Socrates compares himself to a "gadfly."
What does he mean when he uses this term?
- Answers from the chapter beginning:
Chapter 5: "Seek Truth Rather
than Escape Death"
- Why doesn't Socrates plead for a lesser charge in order to
save his life? Why did he feel that he couldn't accept
exile?
- Explain how Socrates' argument that death should not be
feared rests on "the Socratic Paradox."
- Characterize as clearly as possible Socrates' conception
of the soul. Does the existence of the soul presuppose an
afterlife? Explain why or why not from a Socratic point of
view.
- In what way do you think Socrates' defense exhibits irony?
How is his irony related to his being a "gadfly"?
Further Reading:
- Apology: An
excellent discussion and introduction to the historical background and the
life and character of Socrates at the Classics Technology Center
provided by AbleMedia Curriculum Guides.
- Famous
Trials: The Trial of Socrates 399 BC. An extensive examination of
various interpretations of the trial by Douglas Linder. Chronology, maps,
images, bibliography, historical background as well as accounts from Lætius, Plato,
Xenophon, and Aristophanes
are included. Especially interesting is
an interview with I.F. Stone on why Socrates was put to death.
Relay corrections, suggestions or questions to
larchie at lander.edu
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This page last updated 01/27/24
© 2006 Licensed under the GFDL
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