Plato's "Apology"

Plato's overall aim in "The Apology" is to show that Socrates was the best, and wisest, and most righteous man of his time. Plato, through his Apology, secured the acquittal of Socrates in the Court of Time. The Court of Time is the judgment of history. When Plato wrote the Apology , Socrates was already dead and had been found guilty in the Athenian Court. Plato wrote the Apology so people could read everything that went on in the trial to make them feel that Socrates should have been acquitted.

Going by the Athenian way, Socrates would not have been considered a theios aner, divine man or one who is of or from the Gods. This is because the Gods of the city were nothing more than deified doxa and Socrates was said to not give the Gods the proper respect they so deserved, but Socrates gave the doxa that the Gods were based upon respect.

English: The School of Athens (detail). Fresco, St...

Portrait of Socrates. Marble, Roman artwork (1st c...

The "obscene" medieval depiction of Socrates and P...

So, he would not have been considered a man of the gods under Athenian classification.

Socrates practiced philosophy with the elenchos, cross-examination, refutation way. The first step of this refutation was to rob people of the assumption that their opinions, or doxa, were knowledge of the subject, that would be episteme. After making them realize that doxa is not the same thing as episteme, then he would lead them to the intellectual clarity regarding the thing of which they formed an opinion. It can sometimes be said that Socrates is an icon, or representation of the god Apollo for that reason.

A friend from Socrates' youth, Chaerphon, went to the oracle at Delphi and asked it if there was anyone wiser than Socrates. The response from the oracle was that there was no one wiser. Socrates could not believe the...