1 / 17

Plato’s Apology

Plato’s Apology. The Apology is the first of three dialogues on trial & death of Socrates Apology - an account of the trial Crito - the day before Socrates’ execution Phaedo - the day of the execution These three dialogues were probably written in the 390s B.C. Plato’s Apology.

kaoru
Download Presentation

Plato’s Apology

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Plato’s Apology • The Apology is the first of three dialogues on trial & death of Socrates • Apology - an account of the trial • Crito - the day before Socrates’ execution • Phaedo - the day of the execution • These three dialogues were probably written in the 390s B.C. Plato's Apology & Crito - 1

  2. Plato’s Apology • Most of the dialogue is Socrates’ long speech to the jury at his trial • 1. A special kind of wisdom • Socrates’ survey • His conclusion (21d) • Knowing the limits of one’s genuine knowledge • Being able to distinguish between opinion and genuine knowledge • sense of word apology Plato's Apology & Crito - 2

  3. Plato’s Apology • 2. The formal indictment (24 b-c) • Not the real reason that Socrates was brought to trial • What was the real reason? • Some debate but probably his hostility to the leaders of the government and to the democratic form of government - see 31e. Plato's Apology & Crito - 3

  4. Plato’s Apology • Some secondary factors • By their persistent questioning, Socrates and his students annoyed many prominent Athenians • Socrates’ refusal to lend his support to the government’s prosecution of 10 generals after the Peloponnesian War (32b). See Tarrant’s note 55 on p. 220. Plato's Apology & Crito - 4

  5. Plato’s Apology • 3. Socrates’ apology • The sense of the word “apology” here • Are two apologies (closely related) • (1) Care for the soul (30b) Plato's Apology & Crito - 5

  6. Plato’s Apology • (2) The classic passage: “. . . The unexamined life is not worth living . . .” (Grube trans. 38a) [Tredennick & Tarrant: “. . . Life without this sort of examination is not worth living . . .”] • Cf. The analogy to a fly buzzing around a lethargic horse (30e-31a) Plato's Apology & Crito - 6

  7. Plato’s Apology • 4. The conviction & sentencing • Convicted initially by a vote of 281 to 220 & sentenced to death • Socrates is invited to propose an alternative penalty • His response • The second vote for the death penalty Plato's Apology & Crito - 7

  8. Plato’s Apology • 5. Closing comments on death • Death is one of two things: annihilation or change; Socrates does not argue for one or the other here • The latter is a form of immortality • In either case, it is nothing to fear Plato's Apology & Crito - 8

  9. Plato’s Crito • Plato’s Crito • An account of the day before Socrates’ execution • 1. Socrates & Plato on the opinions of the masses (44d) • Socrates & Plato's elitism Plato's Apology & Crito - 9

  10. Plato’s Crito • 2. Socrates’ reasons for refusing to escape • Some secondary reasons • fate • old age • is immoral to do wrong in response to wrong (49b & 49d) Plato's Apology & Crito - 10

  11. Plato’s Crito • The primary reason: The social contract theory • main elements • an agreement (49e, 51e) analogy of state to parents (51b-d) • tacit • when made? (51d) • emigrate (51d) • no violence (51c) Plato's Apology & Crito - 11

  12. Plato’s Crito • What if one disagrees with the laws and rules of one’s state? (51c) • Only 2 options (51b-c, 52a) • A secondary reason for refusing to escape • A consequentialist argument (50b & 53b) Plato's Apology & Crito - 12

  13. Plato’s Crito • A critique of Socrates’ arguments in the Crito • If one disagrees with the laws of one’s state, are there only 2 options? • Difficulties with the right to emigrate • The scope of the contract - how does it include non-participants? • Joseph Tussman’s surrogate theory Plato's Apology & Crito - 13

  14. Plato’s Crito • Critique (cont’d) • What if one makes an agreement to an evil government? Socrates tries to cover (49e). Does he succeed? • The paradox • Hanna Pitkin’s theory of hypothetical consent Plato's Apology & Crito - 14

  15. Plato’s Crito • Critique (cont’d) • In his death, was Socrates a martyr for free speech? Was he “the first martyr of free speech”? (I.F. Stone) • A brief history of the social contract theory after Plato • Plato’s Crito is the locus classicus • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651) Plato's Apology & Crito - 15

  16. Plato’s Crito • John Locke(English, 1632-1704) - Two Treatises of Government (1679-83) • Jean Jacques Rousseau(French, 1712-1778) - Du Contrat Social (1762) • Thomas Jefferson(United States, 1743-1826) - Declaration of Independence (1776) Plato's Apology & Crito - 16

  17. Plato’s Crito • John Rawls (United States, b. 1921) - A Theory of Justice (1971) Plato's Apology & Crito - 17

More Related