PHIL 111: Introduction to Philosophy

LARKIN: Spring 2003

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Plato, Apology

 

I.                     Prologue

A.      “Don’t mind the manner of my speech, give whole attention to whether what I say is just.”

B.       Socrates is criticizing the emphasis on rhetoric in the democratic state.  He contrasts the art of persuasion (rhetoric) from the pursuit of truth (logic).

C.       Socrates emphasizes substance over style.

 

II.                   Unofficial Charges

A.      There are “older false accusations” that Socrates is worried will bias the judges.

1.        “Speculates about what is in the heavens and beneath the earth.”  Socrates fears this reputation will cause people to be too ready to accept that he is an atheist.

2.        “Makes the worse argument appear the better”  Socrates fears this will bias the jury regarding the charge of corrupting the youth.   

B.       Socrates’ Basic Response: I do not do these things.

1.        Socrates distinguishes himself from natural philosophers like Anaxagoras (what we would today call scientists).  Socrates is not interested in figuring out what the material physical world is ultimately like (metaphysics), he is rather interested in questions concerning the Good Life—notions like justice, piety, virtue, knowledge, etc. (ethics and epistemology).  Here is where philosophy begins to split from science insofar as the former but not the latter will focus on normative rather than descriptive questions.

2.        Socrates also wants to distance himself from the Sophists—people who went around taking money to teach people rhetoric or the art of persuasion.  Socrates claims to not have the kind of knowledge that the Sophists profess to have and points out that he does not take money to teach anyone anything.

C.       Hypothetical Question: “What were you doing that got you this reputation though Socrates?”

D.      Socrates’ Reply: His Mission

1.        The Delphic Oracle Pronounced that Socrates was the wisest among men.

2.        Socrates did not believe this and so decided to challenge it by going around question those who seemed to know more than he.

a.        Politicians: Socrates questioned them about such things as justice and found that they did not know any more than Socrates did.  But Socrates considered himself better off, since at least he knew that he did not know anything.

b.       Poets: Socrates questioned them about the meaning of their works and found that they could not explain them (they must have been externally inspired/possessed to produce the works that they really could not comprehend).  Still the poets believed they knew a great deal about things that they did not.

c.        Artisans:  The artisans did know things that Socrates did not know about their specific fields of expertise, but they too believed that because they were experts in one area that there were therefore experts in other areas as well

3.        Socrates concludes that the oracle was right.  He is the wisest of all men—not because he has more knowledge than others but because at least he knows that he does not know anything.  Others are less wise because they claim to know things that they do not know.

E.       The Reason for the Reputation: Socrates made a great many powerful and influential people angry by showing them up in public—demonstrating in front of crowds that they did not really know what they claimed to know.  These people would then say how awful Socrates was, and because they did not want to reveal the real reason for their anger they repeated stock charges against the philosophers/sophists.

 

III.                 Official Indictments

A.      Corrupting the Youth

1.        Ad Hominem Attack on Meletus: Socrates argues that Meletus claims to be motivated by an interest in the welfare of the youth of Athens yet he has clearly not thought about the issue much.  For he believes the absurd conclusion that everyone in the city-state except for Socrates improves the youth.  This is very odd considering that in all other affairs it is not the many but the few who have the expertise to improve things.

 

2.        Virtue is Knowledge Argument: The general Socratic dictum that virtue is knowledge claims that no one ever does wrong intentionally.   Whenever anyone does what is in fact the wrong thing, it is never because they believed it was wrong but because they mistakenly believed it was the right thing to do.  What is thus required to insure that people act in accordance with virtue is an education (knowledge) sufficient to avoid forming false beliefs about what is right/wrong.  From this basic perspective, Socrates argues as follows that he should not be punished for corrupting the youth:

 

P1: To corrupt someone voluntarily is to invite harm to oneself.

 

P2:  No one (in her right, rational mind) would invite harm to oneself.

 

C1:  So I (Socrates) am not corrupting the youth voluntarily.

 

C2:  So either I am corrupting the youth involuntarily or not at all.

 

P3:  If I am corrupting the youth involuntarily, then I should not be punished for corrupting the youth.

 

P4:  If I am not corrupting the youth at all, then I should not be punished for corrupting the youth.

 

C3:  So I should not be punished for corrupting the youth.

 

3.        No Evidence of Harm Defense

P1:  If I had really corrupted anyone, then I would have caused them harm.

P2:  If I had caused some people harm, either they or their relatives would be here to speak against me.

P3:  But no one has spoken against me and claimed that I have harmed either them or their relative.

C:  So I must not have corrupted anyone.

 

B.       Impiety (Atheism):  Socrates does not come right out and say that he does in fact believe in the official gods of the State.  Instead he argues that Meletus has contradicted himself as follows:

P1: Meletus is committed to the claim that I believe in divine things.

P2:  If I believe in divine things, then I believe in divinities.

C1:  So Meletus is committed to the claim that I do believe in divinities.

P3:   But Meletus is also committed to the claim that I am an atheist.

C2:  So Meletus is contradicting himself.

 

IV.                Further Key Points

A.         The Value of Socrates’ Life and Mission

1.        Socrates would not stop or change his practice in order to save his own life.

2.        If the Athenians put Socrates to death, then they are harming themselves.

3.        Socrates, as an honest man, would not have survived a political career.

4.        Socrates deserves a reward for the life his led and his service to the Athenians.

 

B.       Death and the Virtuous Life

1.        It is better to die as a just person than to live as an unjust person.

2.        Fear of death is unwise, as it involves thinking that we know what we do not know.

3.        Death must not be a bad thing for Socrates, as a virtuous and rational life has led him to it.

4.        Death is not bad (for a virtuous person):

 

P1:                Death either involves a total cessation of consciousness or a migration to another consciousness.

 

P2:                If death involves a total cessation of consciousness, then it will be better than continuing to live in this life.

 

P3:                If death involves a migration, then it will be better that continuing to live this life.

 

C:                 So death will be better than continuing to live this life.