“I have neither given nor received
nor have I tolerated any others’ use
of unauthorized aid”
Kathleen Williams
Core
Informal Writing
The Trial of Socrates
Proving His Innocence
Although taken place in an ancient time, the trial of Socrates is
remembered and revered as a trial of free speech and beliefs. Socrates was a
great philosopher and taught about the nature and spiritual world without fees
on the streets of Athens. Most importantly, he taught his young pupils to
question the world, even the governmental society and beliefs that they were
accustomed to. For “corrupting” the youth of Athens and not believing in the
same gods as the city of Athens believed Socrates was sentenced unjustly to
death. In his speech called “Apology”, Socrates clearly proves his innocence by
exposing the contradictions of his accuser, Meletus. Socrates also appeals to
the masses because of his unpopularity. He tries and to rectify the situation by
explaining his divine sign of wisdom by one of the gods.
The main accusation against Socrates was that he was both guilty of
corrupting the young and of not believing in the gods in whom the city of
Athens believed. Socrates questions Meletus, “Who improves our young men?”
of which Meletus responded with “the laws” (page28). Socrates argues his point
that knowledgeable teachers are needed to improve the young men, like
Socrates. Meletus contradicts himself again when Socrates asks him, “Does any
man believe in spiritual activities who does not believe I spirits?” Meletus
responded with a “No”, setting off a trap. Socrates then asked him, “Do we not
believe spirits to be either gods or the children of gods? Yes or no?” Again,
Meletus responded affirmatively disproving that Socrates did not believe in any
gods (page 30). Socrates affirmed and proved his spirituality.
Another issue of discussion by Socrates was his popularity. According to
Socrates, he had a divine affirmation of his wisdom by the great oracle of
Delphi, which said that there was no man wiser than Socrates. After the divine
proclamation, Socrates tried to make sense of it by investigating people of all
sorts of occupations to find their wisdom. He often tried to show a person that
although he thought him wise, but he was not. As a result, the workers and
bystanders disliked Socrates. His unpopularity skyrocketed. With this argument,
Socrates tried to explain why he was unpopular to get a just and unbiased trial.
Although the trial was a failure; Socrates did not fail in his innocence.
The trail was a popularity vote, like many things. Unfortunately the masses
took an innocent life due to prejudice and bias because he taught the youth of
the city to learn in a new perspective—by questioning the world around them.
For this, Socrates was sentenced to death.