Apology

Socrates was a great Greek philosopher, the source of the "Socratic Method," and known for his sayings about "knowing nothing" and that "the unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates is not believed to have written any books, but his pupil Plato showed Socrates' method of instruction in his dialogues. In addition to the content of his teaching, Socrates is also known for drinking a cup of poison hemlock. This was how the Athenians carried out a death sentence for a capital offense. Why did the Athenians want their great thinker Socrates to die?

The charges against Socrates

Socrates summarises the formal charges against him as follows: "Socrates is guilty of corrupting the minds of the young, and of believing in supernatural things of his own invention instead of the gods recognised by the State".

However, there was another set of 'charges' against him which Socrates recognised as being more important, and dangerous, because they stemmed from years of gossip and prejudice against him and hence were unanswerable. These so called 'informal charges' Socrates puts into a legalistic form — an 'affidavit' as he calls it: "Socrates is committing an injustice, in that he enquires into things below the earth and in the sky, and makes the weaker argument the stronger, and teaches others to follow his example". He says that these allegations stem from a certain comic poet, namely Aristophanes.

The charges against him were typical of the charges against the sophists. Socrates was wrongly associated with the sophists. It is noteworthy that a sophist is, literally, a "wise person". Socrates will never claim to be wise, but only to be able to love wisdom (Philosophy).

Socrates begins by repeating the charges against him, but simply contradicts them. He says he wishes he had the sort of wisdom the Sophists claim to have and praises them for being so generous in selling such great knowledge at such a humble cost (in fact, he says, his friend Callias had to pay only a year's worth of his income to have his son instructed in this sort of wisdom).

He then tells the story of Chaerephon, who went to the Oracle at Delphi, to ask if anyone in the land was wiser than Socrates. When Chaerephon reported to Socrates that the god told him there is none wiser, Socrates became disturbed. He then went on what he calls a "divine mission" to find someone wiser than he and ...