Socrates

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Gabe Armstrong

Period 4 LA 2

Socrates: The Apology

Leaders, visionaries, and revolutionaries embellish history with a variety of spectacular and intricate tales. However, few ever witness their retained ideals become fully recognized by the public; in their conflicted lifetimes, these radicals face unfair prosecution or banishment for their eccentric beliefs. As time slowly passes, these unappreciated, forsaken men succumb to death. Then society finally realizes the absence of remarkable greatness. Socrates represented one of these great men, wrongly sentenced to death for unjust crimes. "The Apology", the written work of Plato, one of Socrates's followers, tells the story of his last public appearance when he was under trial for "undermining" the youth of Athens. Some feel that Socrates displayed a lack of wise judgment by vehemently refusing to alter his unique ethics to societal standards, thereby sparing him from death. Although Socrates paid the ultimate price, he displayed extreme wisdom for standing up for his personal beliefs.

He gave his life for a cause believed to be unworthy by the general population. His stand behind his beliefs and refusal to shroud himself or his philosophy, while under oppression, precisely proved that Socrates' embodied the wisest of men.

Socrates stresses that morals constitute to each individual and everyone must possess and claim their own beliefs on how to rightfully live their lives. He states, "The very fact that they were poets made them think that they had a perfect understanding of all subjects, of which they were totally ignorant." Here, Socrates cleverly emphasizes the importance of actual comprehension. He contends that these "poets" believed they achieved obvious perfection, and the disdainful arrogance of such a notion ironically portrays their imperfection and blind ignorance. Opponents counter the idea by arguing some may erroneously enhance their morals in a...