The Unjust Execution Of Socrates :: essays research papers

The Unjust Execution of SocratesIn the vortex of life, many evils have transpired. Vices such as plagues,unforeseen deaths, and corruptness. Among the tragic acts of malefic proportionwas the death of the Greek philosopher, Socrates. He tried to prove andinvalidate many theories through reasoning, and he was murdered for his beliefs.His execution was not justify because the charges that were brought againsthim were false and unfounded.The fist crime that Socrates was charged with was that of impiety. Thischarge was invented primarily to discredit him and make him unpopular with thecitizens. The charge was that of not acknowledging the same gods that the statebelieved in. Throughout the book, Socrates refers numerous times to the factthat it is because of the gods that things are as they seem to be. "Do yousuggest that I do not believe that the sun and moon are gods, as is the generalbelief of all of mankind?" (57). The fact that Socrates did not publicly speakabout the gods attributed to the fact that the charge was heresy. Socratesmaintains that he is not like opposite philosohers. He is a free-thinker, and hisbeliefs are those of private and intimate thoughts of Gods. Socrates also statesthat he is not a teacher, however he was not at all riant with the analogy, buttook it as a compliment and used it in his defense. He used these accusationsto his advantage by saying that he never charged charged anyone for believing orlistening to them. The combination of these bloods should have clearedSocrates of the charge of heresy.The second charge brought against Socrates was that of corrupting minors.Socrates battled this charge through the use of the same arguments. Theargument that he did not consider himself a teacher, the fact that he neveraccepted any money for talking or listening to people, and the fact that hebelieves in gods are what Socrates used to defend himself. By confronting theaccusation that he was corrupting the minors, Socrates tried to clear himself bymanipulating his arguments so that Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon (the men whobrought both charges against Socrates) had to solve questions about thesecharges. When the questions of Socrates were placed before Meletus, his answersseemed to have proven that Socrates was innocent. However, when the verdict wasannounced, it demonstrated the opposite.Upon hearing the verdict, GUILTY, it was plain to see that the Greekassembly was like every another(prenominal) political assembly, corrupt."I should never have believed that it would be such a close thing but now