'The Apology' and how the study of philosophy has enriched the understanding of myself, especially towards your ways of thinking and outlook on life

Essay by mclaireB, February 2007

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Every individual is different. Every person has his own personal ways of thinking and his personal outlook on life. Many find difficulty in understanding themselves. In my situation the study of philosophy helped me enrich the understanding of myself. My ways of thinking and my attitude towards life also were improved.

'The Apology' (from 'The Republic') written by Plato helped me understand more about life and changed my ways of thinking. In the Apology we have the last 24-hours of Socrates. In this dialogue Socrates is brought to court with the Athenians accusing him of not recognizing the Gods of the city, of introducing new gods and of corrupting the youth of Athens with his new teaching. In this dialogue I realized where jealousy and hatred can lead. Socrates for this was found guilty and sentenced to death.

In his speech he seems less interested in refuting the charges, which he easily shows to be made up and inconsistent, than in explaining the hatred towards him and defending his "philosopher's mission of searching into myself and the people."

He has been an annoying person to the state, urging its citizens to self-improvement, and in his search for wisdom he exposed their ignorance. In fact he asked the politicians, the poets, and the craftsmen and found that he had an advantage over them, because he had no pride of knowledge. I found this very true. His true enemies, he realizes, are not his prosecutors but all those who oppose the life of reason and virtue, who disappear before his conviction that "the unexamined life is not worth living". I agree with this phrase because I think that I have to question and reason things out to understand. I believe that cross-examination makes you feel worth living. A relaxed...