The Trial of Socrates (Plato's Apology)

Plato's apology is one of the most famous pieces in the history of not just philosophy but world literature in general depicting the trial of Socrates it is not actually him apologizing but instead it is his defense against the charges that's what the Greek word apologia means after all if you've ever heard of a Christian apologist or something like that and been confused now you know it means someone who defends something not apologized for it since Plato was actually present at the trial it Paints the best picture of the character of Socrates giving us an idea of why he has become so beloved throughout history I have to say I had the biggest grin on my face throughout writing this episode as I reread the classic speeches of Socrates that made him so famous I already know it's going to be a joy going through these dialogues and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do it's hard not to appreciate the spirit and wit of Socrates and though it is not a word for word transcription of his speeches we know we can rely on it because of how much of it agrees with xenophon's account of the trial also known as the apology we're going to dig into Plato's apology and see why someone like Socrates would be tried and executed over seemingly just asking questions hey I'm Matt you're watching nothing new and today we're beginning our series on the trial of Socrates with one of the most important dialogues Plato wrote about Socrates final days the apology it's not really a dialogue like the other early works but of course this was the trial of a lifetime you can see there's a good reason why it stands Out Among the dialogues we're gonna see why Socrates was accused of things that seemed silly to us today such as corrupting the youth and not believing in the city gods and examine Socrates defense and account of why he had to be the gadfly of Athens even if it would result in death when Socrates proposes that he should be rewarded instead of punished for his actions and then accepts the sentence of death without fear he ensured that he would be remembered forever for his moral fiber and dedication to philosophy that's just some of what we're exploring today but first interested in Greek philosophy make sure to subscribe and hit the Bell we have new videos coming out every week anyways let's get into it the dialogue begins with Socrates appealing to the jury which would have been selected randomly from the citizens of Athens remember that Democratic Athens had a very unique justice system anyone could bring a charge on anyone else and it was up to the accuser and Defender to support and defend themselves it certainly would have been a jury of your peers maybe even your neighbors leading some to say that democracy and the people of Athens itself killed Socrates but anyways Socrates begins his defense saying I do not know men of Athens how my accusers affected you as for me I was almost carried away in spite of myself so persuasively did they speak and yet hardly anything of what they said is true of the many lies they told one in particular surprised me namely that you should be careful not to be deceived by an accomplished speaker like me that they were not ashamed to be immediately proved wrong by the facts when I show myself not to be an accomplished speaker at all that I thought was most Shameless on their part unless indeed they call an accomplished speaker the man who speaks the truth if they mean that I would agree that I am an orator but not after their manner for indeed as I say practically nothing they said was true from me you will hear the whole truth though not by Zeus gentlemen expressed in embroidered and stylized phrases like theirs but things spoken at random and expressed in the first words that come to mind for I put my trust in the Justice of what I say and let none of you expect anything else it would not be fitting at my age as it might be for a young man to toy with words when I appear before you by the time of Socrates trial he was already something of a local celebrity and if he were living today he would have said that he had already been tried in the court of public opinion since as he argues most were only aware of him because of Aristophanes satire the clouds where Socrates serves as a character of all pre-socratic philosophy there have been many who have accused me to you for many years now and none of their accusations are true they got hold of most of you from childhood persuaded you and accused me quite falsely saying that there is a man called Socrates a wise man a student of all things in the sky and below the Earth who makes the worst argument the stronger those who spread that rumored gentlemen are my dangerous accusers for their hearers believe that those who study these things do not even believe in the Gods moreover these accusers are numerous and have been added a long time also they spoke to you at an age when you would most readily believe them some of you being Children and adolescents and they won their case by default as there was no defense what is most absurd in all of this is that one cannot even know or mention their names unless one of them is a writer of comedies Socrates Compares defending himself from these rumors and those who spread them to fighting Shadows Socrates says that these false claims about him were the original accusations against him and having addressed them he moves on to the new accusations Socrates tells us the reason why he set out to question the supposedly wise men of Athens who quickly grew annoyed with him it seems Socrates philosophical Quest began when a friend of his traveled to the Oracle of Delphi to ask one simple question were there any Greeks wiser than Socrates the Oracle answered no this is how Socrates reacted when I heard of this reply I asked myself whatever does the god mean what is his riddle I am very conscious that I am not wise at all what then does he mean by saying that I am the wisest for surely he does not lie it is not legitimate for him to do so for a long time I was at a loss as to his meaning then I very reluctantly turned to some such investigation as this I went to one of those reputed wise thinking that there if anywhere I could refute the Oracle and say to it this man is wiser than I but you said I was then when I examined this man there's no need for me to tell you his name he was one of our public men my experience was something like this I thought that he appeared wise to many people and especially to himself but he was not as a result he came to dislike me and so did many of the bystanders so I withdrew and thought to myself I am wiser than this man it is likely that neither of us knows anything worthwhile but he thinks he knows something when he does not whereas when I do not know neither do I think I know so I am likely to be wiser than he is to this small extent that I do not think I know what I do not know after this I approached another man one of those thought to be wiser than he and I thought the same thing and so I came to be disliked both by him and by many others after that I proceeded systematically I realized to my sorrow and alarm that I was getting unpopular but I thought that I must attach the greatest importance to the God's Oracle so I must go to all those who had any reputation for knowledge to examine its meaning and by the dog men of Athens for I must tell you the truth I experienced something like this in my investigation in the service of the God I found that those who had the highest reputation were nearly the most deficient while those who were thought to be inferior were more knowledgeable after the politicians Socrates questioned The Poets after the poets he questioned the tragedians after the tragedians he questioned the Craftsman he found that the bystanders could explain the poems better than their authors could and that because of their talent which he thought came from divine inspiration they were overconfident in their wisdom they were no better than the politicians and the Craftsmen were no better than the poets because of their success in their trade they started to think they were wise in all sorts of ways in which they really weren't as we'll see in later dialogues eventually he comes to see that the Oracle was correct after all interpreting their answer to mean that human wisdom was relatively worthless and his wisdom came in understanding this Socrates goes on to explain why he has gained a following of young men saying that they take pleasure in hearing people question they themselves often imitate me and try to question others I think they find an abundance of men who believe they have some knowledge but know little or nothing the result is that Those whom they question are angry not with themselves but with me they say that man Socrates is a pestilential fellow who corrupts a young if one asks them what he does and what he teaches to corrupt them they are silent as they do not know but as not to appear at a loss they mention those accusations that are available against all philosophers about things in the sky and things below the Earth about not believing in the gods and making the worst the stronger argument they would not want to tell the truth I'm sure that they have been proved to lay claim to knowledge when they know nothing these people are ambitious violent and numerous they are continually and convincingly talking about me they've been filling your ears for a long time with vehement Sanders and Socrates soon begins to dismantle one of his accusers arguments lampooning the idea that all of the Athenians seem to benefit the youth except for Socrates who is the sole person who corrupts them why would he deliberately hurt the very City he lives in by corrupting the young he questions his accuser saying are you so much wiser at your age than I am at mine that you understand that Wicked people always do some harm to their closest neighbors while good people do them good but I have reached such a pitch of ignorance that I do not realize this namely that if I make one of my associates Wicked I run the risk of being harmed by him so that I do such a great evil deliberately as you say I do not believe you melitus and I do not think anyone else will either I do not corrupt the young or if I do it is unwillingly and you are lying in either case he concludes that melitus is not actually concerned with what he says about Socrates corrupting the youth and so he moves on to the main point for which he was on trial atheism he quickly dismantles this accusation as well showing how they falsely attribute the teachings of the pre-socratic philosophers to him he asks melitus do I not believe as other men do that the sun and the moon are Gods melitus responds no by Zeus gentleman of the jury for he says that the sun is Stone and the Moon Earth my dear melitus do you think you are Prosecuting Annex agorus are you so contemptuous of these men and think them so ignorant of letters as not to know that the books of annex agorus are full of those theories and further that the young men learn from me what they can buy from time to time for a drachma at most in the bookshops and ridicule Socrates if he pretends that these theories are his own especially as they are so absurd is that by Zeus what you think of me melitus that I do not believe that there are any gods that is what I say that you do not believe in the gods at all in our video on the pluralists we talked about how an axagoras taught that the sun was not a Divinity but instead a fiery Stone you should check that out if you haven't seen it yet spoiler alert and axigors was also imprisoned for his philosophy and had to be saved by Pericles my hope is that by covering the pre-segratics in full depth in my other videos you'll have a lot more context and understanding as we begin to see their ideas pop up in Plato's dialogues anyways Socrates points out the contradiction that they say he's an atheist while also acknowledging that he believes in spirits we'll see later that he even says a Spirit guides him warning him when he's about to make a mistake how could he believe in anything spiritual if he was an atheist like they said Socrates continues his questioning if I believe in spiritual things I must quite inevitably believe in spirits is that not so it is indeed I shall assume that you agree as you do not answer do we not believe spirits to be either gods or the children of gods yes or no no of course then since I do believe in spirits as you admit if Spirits are Gods this is what I mean when I say you speak in riddles and ingest as you state that I do not believe in Gods and then again that I do since I believe in spirits what man would believe Children of the Gods to exist but not gods we then get a powerful defense of why Socrates has been acting in such a way not caring if his lifestyle would lead to the danger of death which it was now presently in since we have no idea what actually happens after death it's very pretentious of us to judge it as some terrible thing those who live their lives in fear of death do so because of ignorance according to Socrates you are wrong sir if you think that a man who is any good at all should take into account the risk of life or death he should only consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong whether he is acting like a good or a bad man according to your view all the heroes who died at Troy were inferior people especially the son of thedus who was so contemptuous of danger compared with disgrace he despised death and danger and was much more afraid to live a coward who did not avenge his friends let me die at once he said when once I've given the wrongdoer his desserts rather than remain here a laughing stock by the curved ships a burden upon the Earth do you think think he gave thought to death and danger this is the truth of the matter men of Athens wherever a man has taken a position he believes to be best or has been placed by his Commander there he must I think remain and face danger without a thought for death or anything else rather than disgrace to fear death gentlemen is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not to think one knows what one does not know no one knows whether death may not be the greatest blessings for a man yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils it is perhaps on this point and in this respect gentlemen that I differ from the majority of men and if I were to claim that I am wiser than anyone in anything it would be in this that as I have no adequate knowledge of things in the Underworld so I do not think I have Socrates tells the jury that if he were acquitted on condition that he gave up the practice of philosophy he would never accept it he says he would rather obey the gods than men and as long as he draws breath and is able he will continue to ask his fellow Athenians why they care so much about wealth reputation and honor while not giving a thought to wisdom truth or the state of their soul he gets to a point where he says that he is no longer making a defense for himself but for those who would unjustly execute an innocent man even if they kill him they cannot harm him and he says that his accusers will suffer far more harm by acting so immorally Socrates believes that in fact the gods themselves placed him in the city to Rouse the people from their sleep and this is how he puts it I was attached to the city by the god though it seems a ridiculous thing to say as upon a great and Noble horse which was somewhat sluggish because of its size and needed to be stirred up by a kind of gadfly it is to fulfill some such function that I believe the God has placed me in the city I never cease to Rouse each and every one of you to persuade and reproach you all day long long and everywhere I find myself in your company another such man will not easily come to be among you gentlemen and if you believe me you will spare me we then reach one of the most intriguing passages where Socrates describes the Divine sign that he heard as a voice ever since he was a child I have a Divine or spiritual sign which melitus has ridiculed in his deposition this began when I was a child it is a voice and whenever it speaks it turns me away from something I'm about to do but it never encourages me to do anything this is what has prevented me from taking part in public affairs and I think it was quite right to prevent me be sure men of Athens that if I had long ago attempted to take part in politics I should have died long ago and benefited neither you nor myself do not be angry with me for speaking the truth no man will survive who genuinely imposes you or any other crowd and prevents the occurrence of many unjust and illegal happenings in the city a man who really fights for justice must lead a private not a public life if he is to survive for even a short time Socrates begins to wrap up his defense saying that since he never charged for a conversation or teaching like the sofas did he was nobody's teacher and therefore not responsible for the good or bad conduct of those who happen to be listening when he was debating people in public he says he will not use emotional tricks like crying and begging or seek Sympathy by bringing the sons he will leave behind to court he will only rely on good arguments and Truth to win his case but he does not win the verdict is Guilty by a narrow margin and melitus asks for the penalty of death with such high stakes Athenian law required that both the prosecutor and the defendant proposed the penalty for the charges the punishment Socrates proposes is probably the funniest part of this whole speech what counter assessment should I propose to you men of Athens clearly it should be a penalty I deserve and what do I deserve to suffer or to pay because I've deliberately not led a quiet life but have neglected what occupies most people wealth household Affairs the position of general or public orator or the other offices the political clubs and factions that exist in the city I thought myself too honest to survive if I occupied myself with those things I did not follow that path that would have made me of no use either to you or to myself but I went to each view privately and conferred upon him what I say is the greatest benefit by trying to persuade him not to care for any of his belongings before caring that he himself should be as good and as wise as possible not to care for the city's possessions more than for the city itself and to care for other things in the same way what do I deserve for being such a man some good men of Athens if I must truly make an assessment according to my desserts and something suitable what is suitable for a poor benefactor who needs Leisure to exhort you nothing is more suitable gentlemen than for such a man to be fed in the titanium much more suitable for him than for anyone of you who has won a victory at Olympia with a pair or a team of Horses The Olympian Victor makes you think yourself happy I make you be happy besides he does not need food but I do so if I must make a just assessment of what I deserve I assess it as this free meals in the titanium of course this does not work and Socrates is finally sends to death his closing remarks speak for themselves it is for the sake of a short time men of Athens that you will acquire the reputation and the guilt in the eyes of those who want to denigrate the city of having killed Socrates a wise man for they who want to revile you will say that I am wise even if I am not if you had waited but a little while this would have happened on its own accord you see my age that I am already advanced in years and close to death I am saying this not to all of you but to those who condemn me to death and to these same ones I say perhaps you think that I was convicted for lack of such words as might have convinced you if I thought I should say or do all I could to avoid my sentence far from it I was convicted because I lacked not words but boldness and shamelessness and the willingness to say to you what you would most gladly have heard from me Lamentations and tears and my saying in doing many things that I say are Unworthy of me but that you are accustomed to hear from others I did not think then that the danger I ran should make me do anything mean nor do I now regret the nature of my defense I would much rather die after this kind of Defense than live after making the other kind neither I nor any other man should on trial or in war can try to avoid death at any cost indeed it is often obvious in battle that one could escape death by throwing away one's weapons and by turning to supplicate one's pursuers and there are many ways to avoid death in every kind of danger if one will venture to do or say anything to avoid it it is not difficult to avoid death gentlemen it is much more difficult to avoid wickedness for it runs faster than death slow and elderly as I am I've been caught by the slower pursuer or as my accusers being clever and sharp I've been caught by the quicker wickedness I Leave You Now condemned to death by you but they are condemned by truth to wickedness and Injustice so I maintain my assessment and they maintain theirs this perhaps had to happen and I think it is as it should be Socrates continues by essentially saying that he will come back with a vengeance and that though they were trying to avoid accounting for themselves by silencing his questions now they will not just be dealing with Socrates questions but the questions of all who will be inspired by his death he tells them that you are wrong if you believe that by killing people you will prevent anyone from reproaching you for not living in the right way to escape such tests is neither possible nor good but it is best and easiest not to discredit others but to prepare oneself to be as good as possible he notes how while his Divine sign had held him back from speaking at times in the past not once during the entire process of this trial did it oppose him this is why he was so Serene about everything saying that it was as it should be he says he believes the reason for this is that death may be a good thing there is good hope that death is a blessing fruit is one of two things either the dead or nothing and have no perception of anything or it is as we are told a change in a relocating for the soul from here to another place if it is complete lack of perception like a dreamless sleep then death would be a great Advantage for I think that if one had to pick out that night during which a man slept soundly and did not dream put beside it the other nights and days of his life and then see how many days and nights had been better and more pleasant than that night not only a private person but the great king would find them easy to count compared with the other days and nights I know this is confusing what he's saying is that few days or nights in your life are better than the nights where you sleep soundly and don't dream if death is like this I say it is an advantage for all eternity would then seem to be no more than a single night if on the other hand death is a change from here to another place and what we are told is true and all who have died are there what greater blessing could there be Gentlemen of the jury he then goes on to list all the legendary Kings Heroes and Poets who he'd get to spend the Afterlife with and then he says my absolute favorite line in this whole dialogue I just think it's so sweet and admirable that he says that if there is a life after death he would spend it doing the same thing he's always done Socrates says I could spend my time testing and examining people there as I do here as to who among them is wise and who thinks he is but is not what would one not give Gentlemen of the jury for the opportunity to examine the man who led the Great Expedition against Troy or odessius or Sisyphus and innumerable other men and women one could mention it would be an extraordinary happiness to talk with them to keep company with them and examine them in any case they would certainly not put one to death for doing so and so Socrates reminds us to be in Good Hope regarding death and keep one truth in mind that a good man cannot be harmed either in Life or in death and that his Affairs are not neglected by the gods Socrates wasn't angry at all and didn't blame them he only asks that when his sons grow up if they seem to care for money or anything else more than they care about virtue to reproach them as I reproach you so that's the trial of Socrates As Told by Plato's apology what a guy what a dialogue I mean it's not really a dialogue like the others as we'll see but still we get a great look into many of the main points of Socrates philosophy though he never says the exact phrase I know that I know nothing he still gives us his most famous expression of the sentiment by saying that when I do not know neither do I think I know we can clearly see that Socrates wasted no time by trying to save himself but instead cleared his name and once again used any opportunity he could get to challenge the people around him to care more for their souls than for material things anyways that's all for today we'll be continuing to cover the trial of Socrates with the four dialogues youth refro Credo Mino and the Fado so keep an eye out for all of those don't forget to like the video If you learned something new make sure to subscribe if you haven't already and definitely let me know what you think in the comments below thanks for watching and I'll see you next week foreign [Music] [Laughter]

Channel: Nothing New

Views: 135,355

Keywords: Philosophy, Ancient Greece, Religion, History, Plato, Aristotle, Ancient History, Nothing New, Nothing, New, Greece, Socrates, Dialogue, Debate, Trial, Death, Death of Socrates, Trial of Socrates, spirit, divine sign, daimon, guardian angel, Execution

Id: 5-gyTgFjuIg

Length: 25min 52sec (1552 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 18 2023