The Trial of
Socrates
Background
In 399 B.C., a trial, one of the most famous;
The accused, Socrates, 70 years old,
 Athenian greatest thinker and teacher,
guilty of impiety; of corrupting the young.
Background
490 B.C., the battle of Marathon;
Athens was turned into Athenian Empire;
 Democracy flourished, Pericles;
431-404 B.C., The Peloponnesian War;
399 B.C. the trial took place.
1. Picture of Socrates
Lived (469-399 B.C.)
The Golden Age Athens
Notoriously ugly
Quite character, impression
Father, sculptor S-mason
Mother a midwife
Wife, Xanthippe, younger
Nagging, shrewish
Picture of Socrates
Wrote nothing;
Xenophon (428-354), Memorabilla
Aristophanes (450-388), The Clouds
Aristotle (384-322) important comments
Plato’s 25 some dialogues (Immortalize S)
He did not Write: Why?
Phaedrus 《斐德罗篇》，
The invention of Writing, imporve intellect
Enhance power of memory
Write down, refer to, smarter
Socrates disputes, weaken our memory
Writing, an external device, not remember
Not smarter, but dumber, more dependent E
Cannot descriminate; misinterpretation
The Author is not present
Inventor of Dialog
Socrates prefers face to face conversation
Living speech, writing: dead speech
Dialegesthai, to have a conversation
The invetor of dialogue
Look in the eye and communicate
“spoon-feeding” teaching method,
“dialogue -- questions and answers”
In the give and take of conversation
Socratic Method
Socratic Method
2. Picture of Socrates
Rather odd-looking man,
A strange figure
Wandered around Athens,
AGORA, the marketplace
The town center (lots of
people)
Invite people into dialogues
What Talked About?
“ In the time of Socrates,
investigation into nature
stopped,and philosophers
turned away to studying
the virtue that is relevant
to the conduct of life.”
--------- Aristotle
“What is it” Question
Socrates interested in Arête, virtue, excellence
Famous for “What is it” Question
What is virtue, justice, moderation,beauty…?
He was seeking definitions
Socratic Questions
 First step in knowledge is to define words
Philosophical Mission
Chaerephon consulted the Delphic Oracle,
If anyone was wiser than Socrates.
None was wiser.
Not feeling wise, Socrates the ‘wise’ men
Statesmen, poets, artisans, and others
He did NOT find them wise.
The pursuit of wisdom Socrates’ full-time job
I know that I know nothing.
“What is it” Question
Assume an Answer
“What is justice”, can be answered
Seeking a definition of justice
Cover all the particular instances of justice
Socrates: all particular instances justice unified
A universal justice explain particular instances
An anti-relativistic question
No relativist,not a sophist,
Asking the question, he argue against sophists
3. More Complete Picture of
Socrates
Strange looking, sounding man
Wandering around the AGORA of Athens
Asking strange “what is it” questions
Like “What is justice, piety, good, …?”
Why Athenian democracy executed him?
Athenian Hostility to Socrates
The Pelopponesion War (431-404 B.C.), Bitter
404-399, Athens was in terrible chaos
The Thirty Tyrants, (terror,Athens, 404-403 B.C )
Critias, the most damage, Socrate’s student
Alcibiades, democracy “ackowledged folly”
Athenians find scapegoat (替罪羊）
Athenian Hostility to Socrates
Socrates was a most annoying figure
Philosophy was perceived as a threat
What is it question
Shake the foundation of the world view
Subversive(颠覆性的) activity
Philosopher and massive people
Hostility: Socratic Method
This indirect method of searching for the truth
Conversational partners, puzzlement,
unhappiness.
 puzzled and frustrated
forced to believe and admit ignorant of
they knew perfectly well
and that the principles they lived there
unable to withstand close intellectual scrutiny.
Socrates VS Democracy
Socrates speaking sharply about democracy.
“Most people aren’t terribly thoughtful or
analytical, so why should ‘most people’, that is,
the majority, make the life and death
decisions that affect the polis? ”
Hostility:The Clouds by
Aristophanes
The Cloud produced in 423 B.C.
Socrates a danger to A traditional society
Presented as a cynical sophist
For a fee, he offers instruction
His “Thinking Shop” to his pupils
By using the Protagorean technique
Good argument bad, bad argument good
A son has the right to beat his parents
Socrate’s daemonion
"This sign I have had ever since I was a
child. The sign is a voice which comes to
me and always forbids me to do
something which I am going to do, but
never commands me to do anything..."
Plato's Apology
The Trial
WHEN: In Spring 399BC.
WHERE: a large, public building
Took place on one day- 9/10 hours.
500 jurors at the trial.
Things to know…
The prosecution always spoke first.
General public allowed (gather made outbursts.
A water clock measure time allowed speeches.
Juries ranged from 200 – 2500.
Jurors, a citizen, at least 30 years old.
Jury service was voluntary.
Received jury pay.
The Accusers
1. Meletus
-
A young poet or son of a poet.
Pinned up the notice charging Socrates.
Chief prosecutor.
Thought Socrates was an atheist.
2. Lycon
3. Anytus
-well-known democratic politician.
-Instigator (煽动者) of the charges.
The Charges
IMPIETY (a very vague notion
CORRUPTING the mind’s of the young
Difficult to prove, and equally difficult to refute
An extremely serious crime
Instead of weeping, pleading,
Parading his children in front of the jury
like the standard procedure Athens,
Socrates, according to Plato, took the position
that the best defense was a strong offense.
Defense
Using the question-and-answer method
for which he was famous
had apparently gotten him into trouble,
he defended for himself
and also pointing out the inconsistencies
in his accusers’ allegations.
Plato’s Apology
Meletus : “Let me ask you this, why don’t
you say ‘all right’, Socrates, ‘we know
these are trumped-up (编造) charges’, but we
are tired of your going around and
harassing us like this, aren’t you ashamed
of living such a life that everybody in
Athens hates you?’
Soc: “No, I am not ashamed. I took on this
mission from God, and what would make
me ashamed is if I stop doing it. ”
Plato’s Apology
Meletus :“Well, I tell you well,
Socrates. If you will stop doing it, we will
drop these charges”.
Soc:“ I am not going to do that. I am
going to continue. As long as I live, I am
going to go around and question, and
follow the truth wherever it is.”
Plato’s Apology
Meletus : “All right, Socrates, if you
are so smart, why aren’t you in
politics?”
Soc: “Well, I am gonna tell you why.
Because no honest man can survive in
your democracy. It is so corrupt.”
Plato’s Apology
Soc: “Now what you expect me to do at this
stage is to bring in my wife and children.
That’s standard in Athenian trial. You bring in
your wife and children and you say, ‘Look, if
you put me to death, it is going to rob my
family of all support’, and the children are
supposed to cry and the wife is supposed to cry,
and you are thus humiliated. That is part of the
purpose of the trial.
Plato’s Apology
Soc: “You know that I am not going to bring
them in. Yes, I’ve got children and a wife, but I
am not going to bring them in. That has nothing
to do with the trial whatsoever. It is for you to
make your decision. But I tell you this, I will
continue my mission.”
Guilt Phase of Trial
Vote: (280 to 220) lost by about thirty votes.
Meletus, proposed the penalty of death.
Penalty Phase of Trial
After the verdict of guilty or not guilty,
 the jury had to vote AGAIN but this
time
to choose between the prosecutor and
defendant’s proposed penalty
Usually the proposed penalties were to
suffer or exile
Penalty Phase of Trial
Athenian procedure called for convicted
defendants to recommend an alternative penalty,
Socrates’ accusers expected him to propose
exile
would have been quite content him leave town.
Penalty Phase of Trial
However, Socrates claimed that he was in
fact a public benefactor, suggesting first a
reward for his benefactions (慈善行为)
free meals in the Prytaneum.
The jury, annoyed, elected the death
penalty. (360: 140)
Summary of main points by Socrates:
• Origins of unpopularity
• Denial that he is a sophist
• His activities
• Reply to accusers
• Cross-examination of Meletus
• His obligation to Apollo
• Benefits to the city
• Attitude to public affairs in democratic Athens
• Reasons for not making pitiful appeals
• Verdict
• Penalty proposed
• Penalty pronounced and reaction
In the Prison
Socrates first put prison
wait for return of vessel
a small band of his pupils
gathered around him
even arranged for
everything
for the master’s escape.
 “Socrates, we have arranged everything.
You can escape, go to the city of Thebes,
and there receive hospitality.”
“I am not going to escape, I am going to
stay right here. If I were to escape after
having been found legally guilty, that
would set a bad example. I am going to
obey the law. And so the young people
will not be corrupted by my example.”
Claiming that his whole life – a search for
absolute truths – had been a preparation
for death.
人有没有用脚投票的权利？
The Trial of Socrates
He has sent away his wife and children,
and some of his students are weeping and
he says the words I gave in an earlier
lecture,
“I sent my wife away and now here you
are, worse than women, weeping like this.
Stop it! What is bad? I am going to die.
My whole life has been a preparation for
death, preparing myself so that my soul
will be free.
In the words of Plato, such was the end
of the man who, of all the men of our
time, was the best, the wisest, and the
most just.
Death of Socrates
In the end, Socrates was executed
by one of customary Athenian methods,
 poisonous draft of hemlock.
By the words of his Apology,
 (Plato) condemnation of the Athenian
democracy
put to death the best man of that age,
whole life had been a search for wisdom.
Death of Socrates
“The hour of departure has arrived, and
we go our ways----I die, and you to live.
Which to the better fate is known only to
God.”
------Socrates
“我们离开这里的时候到了，我去死，
你们去活，但是无人知道谁的前程更
幸福，只有神才知道。”（p32）这是
苏格拉底最后一次在公众场合的发言。
Plato’s Apology
《申辨篇》
思考
苏格拉底审判是司法历史上最著名的
审判之一，对它的讨论一直没有停息，
从古代到现代，从西方到东方。苏格
拉底审判蕴含着的政治、司法思想至
今仍然受到广泛而深入地探讨。城邦
政治的直接民主直接介入审判，
思考
所引发的对司法的破坏如何权衡？民
主与法治之间存在着怎样的矛盾，又
该怎样统一？古代的法律建构对今天
的影响？这些都是需要细细讨论的话
题。
The Apology
“Know that if you kill me, I being such
a man as I say I am, you will not injure
me so much as yourselves; for …
Interpretation of Socrate’s Death
“Just as Jesus needed the cross to fulfill
his mission, Socrates needed his hemlock
to fulfill his.”
---- I. F. Stone
Influence
The death inspired writers, artists and
philosophers in the modern world
Interpretation of Socrate’s Death
“The wisest and most just of all men”
(Plato)
A voluntary action motivated by a greater
purpose.
Interpretation of Socrate’s Death
Socrates “saw himself as healing the
city’s ills by his voluntary death.”
------Waterfield
Interpretation of Socrates’ Death
“Socrates, with his unconventional
methods, attempted to resolve the political
confusion in Athens. Therefore, he was
willing to serve as a ‘scapegoat’, so that
Athens could set aside old disputes and
move forward in a new, more harmonious
direction. ”
----------Waterfield
Interpretation of Socrate’s Death
For some, the execution of the man (W,J)
has shown the unreliability or
undesirability of democratic rule.
For others, the Athenians' action was a
justifiable defense of their recently reestablished democracy.
Interpretation of Socrate’s Death
Socrates wanted to be sentenced to death
in order to justify his opposition to the
Athenian democracy, and that Socrates
felt that old age would be unpleasant
anyway.
-----I. F. Stone
Thank You!
Lecturer: Wu Shiyu
Email: shiyuw@sjtu.edu.cn
Webiste: http://sla.sjtu.edu.cn/bbs