The Apology

The Dialogues of Plato (427-348 B.C.E.) are the major source for the life and teachings of Socrates of Athens (ca. 469-399 B.C.E.), Hellas's first great ethical and social philosopher. Like Confucius, his near contemporary, Socrates left behind only a small number of students and no writings, but also like Confucius, he served the pivotal role in the development of his culture's approach to philosophy. Socrates' main contribution to Greek thought was that he refused to accept easy answers as he searched after wisdom and virtue, which were to him the same. Like Confucius, Socrates had an implicit faith that action inevitably follows knowledge. The moral person, for Socrates, is one who knows the good and acts accordingly. Unlike Confucius, however, Socrates refused to accept the answers of tradition and the way of the past as infallible guides to wisdom and moral behavior. Socrates' uncompromising search for truth and goodness of soul ultimately earned him a number of enemies, and he finally fell victim to the mood of bitter recrimination that followed Athens's defeat in the Peloponnesian War. In 399 a conservative politician charged Socrates with impiety against the gods and corruption of youth. On trial for his life, the seventy-year-old philosopher refused to defend himself against the charges, choosing instead to offer a justification of his life and methods of inquiry. He was found guilty and condemned to death by a jury that fully expected him to flee the city. Socrates, faithful to the end to his sense of morality, refused to avoid the sentence and went serenely to his death. The best account of Socrates' defense, or apologia, at his trial comes to us from Plato, Socrates' brilliant pupil and, arguably, the most original of all of Hellas's great thinkers. It is impossible to say exactly where Socrates' ideas leave off and Plato's begin in the many philosophical dialogues Plato composed and in which his former master serves as hero. It is likely, however, that Plato's Apologia is faithful to the concepts, if not the actual words, that Socrates presented in his defense of philosophy. Following the death of his teacher, Plato withdrew from his native Athens and did not return for twelve years. Upon return, he established his own school of philosophy, the Academy, which he presided over for nearly forty years, although later he again left Athens, this time for six years. When he returned, he again took up residence again in the Academy and for the rest of his life instructed there the men and women who attended in large numbers. The Academy continued to be a center of Greek philosophical inquiry until the Christian Emperor Justinian ordered its closing in 529 C.E. For more than 900 years the Academy served the cause of the unfettered pursuit of wisdom that Socrates so ably defended and died for. (Cengage Learning website)

Apologia Plato   Men of Athens, do not interrupt me with noise, even if I seem to you to be boasting; for the word that I speak is not mine, but the speaker to whom I shall refer it is a person of weight. For of my wisdom--if it is wisdom at all--and of its nature, I will offer you the god of Delphi[1] as a witness. You know Chaerephon, I fancy. He was my comrade from a youth and the comrade of your democratic party.[2]... Well, once he went to Delphi and made so bold as to ask the oracle this question; and, gentlemen, don't make a disturbance at what I say; for he asked if there were anyone wiser than I. Now the Pythia[3] replied that there was no one wiser. And about these things his brother here will bear you witness, since Chaerephon is dead. But see why I say these things; for I am going to tell you from where the prejudice against me has arisen. For when I heard this, I thought to myself: "What in the world does the god mean, and what riddle is he propounding?[4] For I am conscious that I am not wise to any degree. What then does he mean by declaring that I am the wisest? He certainly cannot be lying, for that is not possible for him." And for a long time I was at a loss as to what he meant; then with great reluctance I proceeded to investigate him somewhat as follows. I went to one of those who had a reputation for wisdom, thinking that there, if anywhere, I should prove the utterance wrong and should show the oracle "This man is wiser than I, but you said I was wisest." So examining this man--for I need not call him by name, but it was one of the public men with regard to whom I had this kind of experience, men of Athens--and conversing with him, this man seemed to me to seem to be wise to many other people and especially to himself, but not to be so; and then I tried to show him that he thought he was wise, but was not. As a result, I became hateful to him and to many of those present; and so, as I went away, I thought to myself, I am wiser than this man; for neither of us really knows anything fine and good, but this man thinks he knows something when he does not, whereas I, as I do not know anything, do not think I do either. I seem, then, in just this little thing to be wiser than this man at any rate, that what I do not know I do not think I know either." From him I went to another of those who were reputed to be wiser than he, and these same things seemed to me to be true; and there I became hateful both to him and to many others.... Now from this investigation, men of Athens, many enmities have arisen against me, and such as are most harsh and grievous, so that many prejudices have resulted from them and I am called a wise man. For on each occasion those who are present think I am wise in the matters in which I confute someone else; but the fact is, gentlemen, it is likely that the god is really wise and by his oracle means this: "Human wisdom is of little or no value." And it appears that he does not really say this of Socrates, but merely uses my name, and makes me an example, as if he were to say: "This one of you, O human beings, is wisest, who, like Socrates, recognizes that he is in truth of no account in respect to wisdom." Therefore I am still even now going about and searching and investigating at the god's behest anyone, whether citizen or foreigner, who I think is wise; and when he does not seem so to me, I give aid to the god and show that he is not wise. And by reason of this occupation I have no leisure to attend to any of the affairs of the state worth mentioning, or of my own, but am in vast poverty on account of my service to the god.[5] And in addition to these things, the young men who have the most leisure, the sons of the richest men, accompany me of their own accord, find pleasure in hearing people being examined, and often imitate me themselves, and then they undertake to examine others; and then, I fancy, they find a great plenty of people who think they know something, but know little or nothing. As a result, therefore, those who are examined by them are angry with me, instead of being angry with themselves, and say that "Socrates is a most abominable person and is corrupting the youth."[6] And when anyone asks them "by doing or teaching what?" they have nothing to say, but they do not know, and that they may not seem to be at a loss, they say these things that are handy to say against all the philosophers, "the things in the air and the things beneath the Earth" and "not to believe in the gods" and "to make the weaker argument the stronger." For they would not, I fancy, care to say the truth, that it is being made very clear that they pretend to know, but know nothing.... If you should say to me...: "Socrates, this time we will not do as Anytus[7] says, but we will let you go, on this condition, however, that you no longer spend our time in this investigation or in philosophy,[8] and if you are caught doing so again you shall die"; if you should let me go on this condition which I have mentioned, I should say to you, "Men of Athens, I respect and love you, but I shall obey the god[9] rather than you, and while I live and am able to continue, I shall never give up philosophy or stop exhorting you and pointing out the truth to any one of you whom I may meet, saying in my accustomed way: "Most excellent man, are you who are a citizen of Athens, the greatest of cities and the most famous for wisdom and power, not ashamed to care for the acquisition of wealth and for reputation and honor, when you neither care nor take thought for wisdom and truth and the perfection of your soul?" And if any of you argues the point, and says he does care, I shall not let him go at once, nor shall I go away, but I shall question and examine and cross-examine him, and if I find that he does not possess virtue, but says he does, I shall rebuke him for scorning the things that are of most importance and caring more for what is of less worth. This I shall do to whomever I meet, young and old, foreigner and citizen, but most to the citizens, inasmuch as you are more nearly related to me. For know that the god commands me to do this, and I believe that no greater good ever came to pass in the city than my service to the god. For I go about doing nothing else than urging you, young and old, not to care for your persons or your property more than for the perfection of your souls, or even so much; and I tell you that virtue does not come from money, but from virtue comes money and all other good things to man, both to the individual and to the state. If by saying these things I corrupt the youth, these things must be injurious, but if anyone asserts that I say other things than these, he says what is untrue. Therefore I say to you, men of Athens, either do as Anytus tells you, or not, and either acquit me, or not, knowing that I shall not change my conduct even if I am to die many times over.... For know that if you kill me, I being such a man as I say I am, you will not injure me so much as yourselves.... And so, men of Athens, I am now making my defense not for my own sake, as one might imagine, but far more for yours, that you may not by condemning me err in your treatment of the gift the god gave you. For if you put me to death, you will not easily find another, who, to use a rather absurd figure, attaches himself to the city as a gadfly to a horse, which, though large and well bred, is sluggish on account of his size and needs to be aroused by stinging. I think the god fastened me upon the city in some such capacity, and I go about arousing, and urging and reproaching each one of you, constantly alighting upon you everywhere the whole day long. Such another is not likely to come to you, gentlemen; but if you take my advice, you will spare me. But you, perhaps, might be angry, like people awakened from a nap, and might slap me, as Anytus advises, and easily kill me; then you would pass the rest of your lives in slumber, unless the god, in his care for you, should send someone else to sting you. And that I am, as I say, a kind of gift from the god, you might understand from this; for I have neglected all my own affairs and have been enduring the neglect of my concerns all these years, but I am always busy in your interest, coming to each one of you individually like a father or an elder brother and urging you to care for virtue; now that is not like human conduct. If I derived any profit from this and received pay for these exhortations, there would be some sense in it; but now you yourselves see that my accusers, though they accuse me of everything else in such a shameless way, have not been able to work themselves up to such a pitch of shamelessness as to produce a witness to testify that I ever exacted or asked pay of anyone. For I think I have a sufficient witness that I speak the truth, namely, my poverty.... I was never any one's teacher. If any one, whether young or old, wishes to hear me speaking and pursuing my mission, I have never objected, nor do I converse only when I am paid and not otherwise, but I offer myself alike to rich and poor; I ask questions, and whoever wishes may answer and hear what I say. And whether any of them turns out well or ill, I should not justly be held responsible, since I never promised or gave any instruction to any of them;[10] but if any man says that he ever learned or heard anything privately from me, which all the others did not, be assured that he is lying. But why then do some people love to spend much of their time with me? You have heard the reason, men of Athens; for I told you the whole truth; it is because they like to listen when those are examined who think they are wise and are not so; for it is amusing.   [1] The oracle, or prophetess, at Delphi spoke for the god Apollo. [2] Socrates mistrusted the "unthinking masses" and was not a supporter of Athens's democratic faction. [3] The priestess who acted as the vehicle for the sacred serpent (the python), who was believed to be the actual soothsayer at Delphi. [4] The pythia at Delphi answered all questions in riddles. [5] Actually, Socrates had served Athens well as a soldier and as someone who did his civic duty when chosen by lot for office. [6] In The Clouds, the comic playwright Aristophanes had lampooned Socrates' methods of investigation and argumentation. According to the picture he presented, Socrates' "thought factory" taught young men how to tie their elders into verbal and logical knots and catered to those who wanted to swindle people. Plato reports that Socrates thought this popular comedy damaged his reputation. See note 10. [7] The person who introduced charges against Socrates. [8] A word coined by the Greeks that means "love of wisdom." [9] Apollo. [10] Socrates contrasts himself with the Sophists (those who are wise), professional teachers who offered, for pay, instruction in argumentation and the other skills that young men needed in order to distinguish themselves in public affairs. The charge against the Sophists was that they taught their pupils how to win debates at any cost, with no regard to the truth. Our term "sophistry" reflects the poor reputation of the Sophists. Aristophanes (note 6) portrayed Socrates as the worst of the Sophists.   Credits:  Plato, Apologia, in F.J. Church, trans. The Trial and Death of Socrates (London: MacMillan, 1880). With emendations by A.J. Andrea.

Address the following questions:

1. What defense does Socrates offer against the charges of impiety and corruption of Athens's youth?

2. According to Socrates, what necessary social function does he serve?

3. What wisdom does Socrates claim to have?

4. What does he teach and what is his method of instruction? Can you discover in this text what the "Socratic method" of analysis, argumentation, and education is?

5.According to Socrates, what is a human being's highest function and greatest responsibility? 

6. How does Socrates' definition of virtue parallel that of Confucius? How does it differ? Which are more significant, the similarities or the differences?