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Plato’s Apology

Plato’s Apology. The Apology is the first of three dialogues on trial & death of Socrates Apology - an account of the trial Crito - the day before Socrates’ execution Phaedo - the day of the execution These three dialogues were probably written in the 390s B.C. Plato’s Apology.

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Plato’s Apology

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  1. Plato’s Apology • The Apology is the first of three dialogues on trial & death of Socrates • Apology - an account of the trial • Crito - the day before Socrates’ execution • Phaedo - the day of the execution • These three dialogues were probably written in the 390s B.C. Plato's Apology & Crito - 1

  2. Plato’s Apology • Most of the dialogue is Socrates’ long speech to the jury at his trial • 1. A special kind of wisdom • Socrates’ survey • His conclusion (21d) • Knowing the limits of one’s genuine knowledge • Being able to distinguish between opinion and genuine knowledge • sense of word apology Plato's Apology & Crito - 2

  3. Plato’s Apology • 2. The formal indictment (24 b-c) • Not the real reason that Socrates was brought to trial • What was the real reason? • Some debate but probably his hostility to the leaders of the government and to the democratic form of government - see 31e. Plato's Apology & Crito - 3

  4. Plato’s Apology • Some secondary factors • By their persistent questioning, Socrates and his students annoyed many prominent Athenians • Socrates’ refusal to lend his support to the government’s prosecution of 10 generals after the Peloponnesian War (32b). See Tarrant’s note 55 on p. 220. Plato's Apology & Crito - 4

  5. Plato’s Apology • 3. Socrates’ apology • The sense of the word “apology” here • Are two apologies (closely related) • (1) Care for the soul (30b) Plato's Apology & Crito - 5

  6. Plato’s Apology • (2) The classic passage: “. . . The unexamined life is not worth living . . .” (Grube trans. 38a) [Tredennick & Tarrant: “. . . Life without this sort of examination is not worth living . . .”] • Cf. The analogy to a fly buzzing around a lethargic horse (30e-31a) Plato's Apology & Crito - 6

  7. Plato’s Apology • 4. The conviction & sentencing • Convicted initially by a vote of 281 to 220 & sentenced to death • Socrates is invited to propose an alternative penalty • His response • The second vote for the death penalty Plato's Apology & Crito - 7

  8. Plato’s Apology • 5. Closing comments on death • Death is one of two things: annihilation or change; Socrates does not argue for one or the other here • The latter is a form of immortality • In either case, it is nothing to fear Plato's Apology & Crito - 8

  9. Plato’s Crito • Plato’s Crito • An account of the day before Socrates’ execution • 1. Socrates & Plato on the opinions of the masses (44d) • Socrates & Plato's elitism Plato's Apology & Crito - 9

  10. Plato’s Crito • 2. Socrates’ reasons for refusing to escape • Some secondary reasons • fate • old age • is immoral to do wrong in response to wrong (49b & 49d) Plato's Apology & Crito - 10

  11. Plato’s Crito • The primary reason: The social contract theory • main elements • an agreement (49e, 51e) analogy of state to parents (51b-d) • tacit • when made? (51d) • emigrate (51d) • no violence (51c) Plato's Apology & Crito - 11

  12. Plato’s Crito • What if one disagrees with the laws and rules of one’s state? (51c) • Only 2 options (51b-c, 52a) • A secondary reason for refusing to escape • A consequentialist argument (50b & 53b) Plato's Apology & Crito - 12

  13. Plato’s Crito • A critique of Socrates’ arguments in the Crito • If one disagrees with the laws of one’s state, are there only 2 options? • Difficulties with the right to emigrate • The scope of the contract - how does it include non-participants? • Joseph Tussman’s surrogate theory Plato's Apology & Crito - 13

  14. Plato’s Crito • Critique (cont’d) • What if one makes an agreement to an evil government? Socrates tries to cover (49e). Does he succeed? • The paradox • Hanna Pitkin’s theory of hypothetical consent Plato's Apology & Crito - 14

  15. Plato’s Crito • Critique (cont’d) • In his death, was Socrates a martyr for free speech? Was he “the first martyr of free speech”? (I.F. Stone) • A brief history of the social contract theory after Plato • Plato’s Crito is the locus classicus • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651) Plato's Apology & Crito - 15

  16. Plato’s Crito • John Locke(English, 1632-1704) - Two Treatises of Government (1679-83) • Jean Jacques Rousseau(French, 1712-1778) - Du Contrat Social (1762) • Thomas Jefferson(United States, 1743-1826) - Declaration of Independence (1776) Plato's Apology & Crito - 16

  17. Plato’s Crito • John Rawls (United States, b. 1921) - A Theory of Justice (1971) Plato's Apology & Crito - 17

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