Socrates’s Oracle
What is this inner divinity for which he was condemned?
One of the few philosophers who is a household name, Socrates is famous for being a gadfly who was condemned to death. Why did a jury of Athenian citizens decide that Socrates deserved to die? We must rely on Plato’s account in Apology to try to understand what happened and why.
I have an interesting answer to that question of why Socrates was condemned. Seems readily apparent to me, but I am similarly condemned to be a gadfly who sees what is readily apparent that the so-called experts do not. It’s why I’ve stepped away from institutional philosophy.
What Socrates Said at His Trial
Socrates was accused of impiety, specifically: “that Socrates is a doer of evil, who corrupts the youth; and who does not believe in the gods of the state, but has other new divinities of his own.” (All quoted translations of Apology from Project Gutenberg) According to Plato, Socrates addresses these accusations at length. Two passages are of particular interest in trying to understand the accusations against Socrates.
A person named Meletus is one of the chief accusers, and Socrates, in his defense testimony, addressed him directly. In this excerpt, Socrates shed some light on why Meletus claims Socrates believes in a…
