Plato's Apology
Things to Consider:
- Intro to Greek Literature
- Socrates (ca. 470-399 B.C.)
- Plato (429-347 B.C.)
- Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
- Oracle of Delphi: Role in Socrates’s life
- Greek Judicial System
- Socrates’s Technique
** Homework Questions **
- Are there any connections between Socrates's ideas and
those of Jesus? Explain.
72:
- Of what is Socrates accused by his "first" accusers?
73-74:
- What is the influence of the Oracle of Delphi on
Socrates?
76:
- How does he ultimately interpret the Oracle’s statement?
- What becomes his mission?
- How does this make enemies for him?
77:
- What are the formal charges being brought against Socrates
at the present time?
91:
- Explain: "[T]he unexamined life is not worth living”
(91).
- Does he have to die? Why or why not?
- Could he have saved himself if he had argued differently?
Explain.
Other Discussion Questions:
73:
- How does he respond to the Oracle's claims? Why?
74:
- Explain: “I neither know nor think that I know”
(74).
74-75:
- When he investigates the validity of the Oracle's claims,
what does he discover?
76:
- Why, according to Socrates, does he get accused of his
crimes?
77-81:
- How does Socrates's cross-examination of Meletus resemble
what could be viewed as typical courtroom practice? Explain.
81:
- Why does Socrates say that Meletus is presenting a
"facetious riddle" (81)?
- Why does Socrates not worrying about causing his own death?
82:
- Why does Socrates compare himself to Achilles? Are they
the same or different? How?
84:
- Explain: “[I]f you kill such an one as I am, you will
injure yourselves more than you will injure me” (84).
85:
- Describe the voice Socrates describes hearing.
- Explain: “[H]e who will fight for the right, if he
would live even for a brief space, must have a private station
and not a public one" (85).
88:
- What, according to Socrates, is a judge’s duty?
89:
- Is Socrates an atheist? Does he consider himself one?
Explain.
- Is Socrates surprised by his conviction? How so?
90:
- Why does he get convicted?
91:
- What does Socrates believe his punishment should be?
Why is this suggestion unusual?
93:
- What possibilities does he envision for the death/the
afterlife? Which does he seem to view as more likely? Why?
94:
- What does he see his role in the second version of the
afterlife to be?
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