The Apology of Plato

Plato’s work Apology is about Socrates, the great philosopher being put to trial for “corrupting the youth” and expressing the idea that there was one deity other than those approved by the state (Athens). The charges he faced were so severe that if found guilty he would be put to death.

In his response to the charges I gathered that all the commotion had to do with his accusers egos at not getting the accolades of being much wiser than this man standing before them. In fact the oracle at Delphi prophesied when asked by Chaerephon, a former friend of his that there was no other wiser than he. This goes back to my statement about ego and the status quo. It seems that only those that had the education, status and approval of the state were allowed to impart wisdom but here comes this old man to disrupt that! How dare he? In addition to that, Socrates acted in humility when bestowed this honor for he sought out people (polititians, artisans, and poets) to refute the oracles words. With this quest he found none wiser than himself but in the process created enemies.

Another point I wanted to add was that he was not afraid to ask questions and because these “experts” were unable to answer the questions he put forth, they felt ashamed in there own genre and that caused a big uproar. So much so that this man was unjustly put to death by a society that we still hold in such high regard to the shaping of our culture.

Finally, even though this happened many years past, we still place those in high profile positions as gods. The military, social, and political elite are seen as the be all to end all but let that one voice crying out in the desert disrupt that and we condemn so quickly.

As my grandmother would say, “There is nothing new under the sun.” She sure had something there.