Del Rosario, Lexus, G.
BS PHYSICS 2-2
Apology by Plato.
The apology of Socrates by Plato presented how the father of western philosophy faced the trial
court with the accusations being linked to him. The writing clearly display the ideas of Socrates's
defense against the accusation; he did not go to the usual trial on his time, where the accused ask
for pity on the jury to clear themselves against the charge. Socrates was an old man when this
happened and the prose clearly identified by Socrates words translated by Plato that he was
accused because of his practice of reproaching people and that he inspire the youth to do the
same thing. He ask to find and to verify the oracle's prophesy; where they stated that he—
Socrates—was the wise among man, and on his journey, he conversate with people having
different area of expertise and he thought was wise but later figured out that they were not,
because they think they know things that they do not. Analyzing and inter-relating this writing on
the present time signify that the challenges and circumstances that the ancient Athens had was
not after all have overcome; but evolving with us as we progress as a human being.
In the present, we have raise a standard in executing a trial against the accused, whereas in the
ancient Athens the trial are being performed by mainly three persons; the jurymen, the accuser,
and the accused. There was no person who will defend the accused and a person who will
thoroughly oppose the defence, unlike in the contemporary time, we have a systematic way of
conducting a court trial; mainly composed of five persons: the accused, the attorney of the
accused, the accuser, the attorney of the accuser, and the judge. Moreover, dissimilar from the
ancient Athens where the the accused try to ask for pity on the jurymen, the present court trial do
not rely on the subjective feelings of the judge, it requires concrete evidence and a solid defence
or charge to make a just judgement. Aside from the court trial, we can see a similarity from what
have happened to Socrates to some people of our time; These people are the martyrs, the open
minded, the selfless, and the human being who were unafraid to voice out the truth, and just like
Socrates, they faced the consequence of their good deeds, they were punished, judged, and even
killed by the opposing side of their practices.
The Apology is a great writing, Plato did a great representation and narration of how the father of
western philosophy took the road not taken on facing his own court trial at an old age with the
accusation of corrupting the youth and not believing on gods. Moreover, this writing shows a
great relevance up to this day for it somehow manifest and expose to us that what we experience
is a history repeating itself and we can look at to the past to make our present a better place to
live not only for some, but for all kinds.