Plato - Apology of Socrates Flashcards
What is an apology?
Apology - defense (in trial)
What is the Delphi Oracle’s claim? Why does Socrates question the oracle?
The oracle claims Socrates is the wisest man. Socrates understanding he has human wisdom is conscious of his own ignorance
“I do not think that I know what I do not know”
Define elenchus
refutation by revealing inconsistencies in interlocutor’s views
Define dialectic
effort to evoke the interlocutor’s desires (ask and respond) to know the truth of awareness of their own ignorance (e.g. slave boy and geometry)
True or False: definitions are particular, examples are universal
False: definitions are universal, examples are particulars
If Socrates insisted upon the importance of theoretical knowledge, how does that translate to a societal application?
Allows us to define the conduct for a best life, as providing for the model to govern conduct
What is the apology of Socrates against corrupting the youth? (4 arguments)
- Does all of Athens refine the youth while Socrates corrupts?
- He isn’t a goddamned sophist
- Where are the corrupted youth, why have them nor their families accused him?
- Asks for his sons to be ‘corrupted’ in the exact same manner
What is the apology of Socrates against impiety (4)
- Believing is daimonics (children of gods) entails a belief in the gods themselves
- He is the gadfly buzzing around the horse –> he is servicing the gods by keeping society from complacency
- Refers to the gods during his trial (e.g. Zeus)
- Claims to be following divine signs
How is rhetoric viewed by Socrates?
Poorly, considers it a skill the obfuscates the truth and sways juries from justice. Says he was almost, “carried away” by his own accusers
Death is either complete ________ or the _________ of the soul
annihilation, migration
