Socratic Dialogue
To conclude our unit on Socrates, you will write a three to five
Page typed, single spaced dialogue.
Using Plato’s dialogues (Euthyphro, Allegory of the Cave, Apology, Crito), Don Nardo’s
The Trial of Socrates and Aristophanes' Clouds, write a dialogue (in the manner of
Plato) analyzing the trial of Socrates.
While characters in your dialogue are free to express their views on Socrates’ guilt
or innocence, this is not the main point of the dialogue. Rather, your aim is to show
the complexity of the issues and represent multiple, competing points of view.
Your primary goal in this paper is to demonstrate deep engagement with the
profound issues raised by the Trial of Socrates. In particular, your dialogue should
wrestle with at least two of the following themes that our unit on Socrates has
explored: Man vs. State; Fathers vs. Sons; Tradition vs. Skepticism; Axial vs.
Perennial; Democracy vs. Oligarchy; Being vs. Becoming; Human Nature, Mind and
Body, and the meaning of Justice.
Your dialogue should follow the format used by Plato in dialogues like Euthyphro
and Crito.
Your characters should come mostly from the real characters that took part in the
drama of Socrates, though you could add one or two modern or even historical
characters from other cultures (Siddhartha? Lao Tzu?). And as this is a creative
project, you should feel free to take some plausible liberties when choosing a
setting, or expanding upon the views of a character. To sum up, this is a fairly open
ended dialogue and your main goal is to show deep engagement with the issues
surrounding the trial.
You may use any of the background readings distributed during trial preparation. If
you use additional sources found in the library, please include a bibliography.
Parenthetical citation, please, for all quotations.
Have fun; think deep.