THE TRIAL AND DEATH OF SOCRATES
In the Trial and death of Socrates, the philosopher is a God’s fearing person. Throughout the entire dialogues, he has been in a position to prove his true love to God by adducing evidence to support his claims. The trial and death of the Socrates is made of the four dialogues in which the Socrates’ important aspects have been revealed (Plato, 12). The four dialogues include; Euthyphro which consist of the conversion that was held between Socrates and Euthyphro who were both supposed to stand before the court of law for different legal matters where Euthyphro had brought charges of murder against his father while Socrates was supposed to be tried before the court of law for claims that he had been corrupting the city’s youths (Plato, 13)). The second dialogue is Apology which accounts for the Socrates defence before the court of law, the third one Crito which contain a conversation between Crito and the Socrates in the prison cell where Socrates was waiting for his death sentence, the fourth and the last is Phaedo which narrates the whole story of Socrates after his death. This essay discusses the important aspects of the Socrates philosophy as outlined below;
Aspect of implication of piety
According to Socrates Piety should refer to cases where ones rendered services are moral and promote the spiritual development of God. In the Euthyphro dialogue, we find out that Socrates is just about to go for a trial for corrupting the youths of the city, a case which he defends himself that he never corrupted them but instead he was only doing what the God’s doctrine requires him to do. Through this conversion is when his urge to know the true meaning of piety comes up. It is true that he is convicted with the crime but he does not understand the reason for this. This provokes him to request for the meaning from Euthyphro (Plato, 12). And it is from the reply he gave to the Euthyphro’s answer that we are able to realize that his interpretation of the term was different from what other people in the city thought. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The aspect of death
From the dialogues, we realize that Socrates views death in a different angle as compared to other people’s view on the same term. He prefers to die rather than committing what is not righteous to God. He claims that accepting the lifting of the death penalty from him will imply that he was guilty of what he was being convicted yet according to him he was not guilt. To him, dying for the mistake he never committed will help in promoting his relationship with God and enhancing justice in the country (Plato, 12)). People like Crito, views Socrates death as betrayal to his family and friends as they were ready to assist him. Crito claimed that his death will be a problem to his children as they depended on him for care and protection. According to him, death was not something that could make him worried when others believed that death is horrible. Choosing to die for the trust in God is better than staying alive under the unjust law of Land.
Aspect of justice
Justice in the entire dialogues has also been viewed in a different way by Socrates to imply a particular different meaning. According to him the charges brought against him are true according to the law of land but wrong before the demand of God with regard to morality. From the dialogues, we realise that Socrates accepts to die just to illustrate the real meaning of being just (Plato,13). When he was required to suggest a different penalty apart from death, he claimed that he didn’t have money to pay for the penalty yet his friends were ready to assist. According to the law, it was just if he requested for different penalty but to him, it unjust because it had been clearly stated that the punishment for the mistake he was being blamed was death and therefore he had no other option than to accept the punishment so as to please the law of land (Plato, 13). While Crito believed that it was just for him to escape the punishment so that he could take care of his children, to him, the incident would be unjust according to God’s command and in fact this will cause a lot of problems to his family as they might be punished in addition to taking away their property. Therefore, he preferred staying in the prison and dying because it was just and he could even use this as a strong evidence before God during the day of judgement.
Socrates would disapprove of the aspects of the contemporary American culture when he insists on the true meaning of piety from Euthyphro. He meant that their interpretation of the term was wrong. From the answers given by Euthyphro, he would be able to disapprove the aspects of the country’s cultures if he managed to convince Euthyphro to find the true meaning of the term. This is clearly illustrated where he claims that Euthyphro would only realize that his father was not guilty of the crime when he finds out the true meaning of the term. Being devoted to God means acting according to God’s command and a person’s services should not be separated from God’s services (Plato, 12). Therefore, the activities of Euthyphro were supposed to promote morality and spiritual development instead of pleasing man or the rule of law by charging his father with a criminal offense of murder.
He would also disapprove the contemporary American culture of expressing justice by choosing to die for the mistake he never committed. Socrates was able to disapprove their way of expressing justice by claiming that the only way the issue could be expressed by amending the country’s laws to be in accordance with God’s will (Plato, 12). When he chooses to die, it means the country’s laws were unjust because he is being punished for following the God’s command which is just according to his interpretation of the justice (Plato, 13). Crito believed that it was just for Socrates to escape from the prison as it will be unjust to his friends and family if he chooses to die. Socrates gives a strong opinion that that he would rather die than expressing unrighteousness which is not just according to God’s will. He would also be able to disapprove them when he rejects to propose a different penalty from death as it will mean he was guilty of the mistake yet there was no any justice in the conviction.
He would also be able to disapprove them when the ‘’corrupted youths’’ prove that they don’t see any evils in his teachings. This would be possible the youths are asked to state the content of the teachings (Plato, 13). The teachings were on the events that take place both on earth and in the heaven which according to Socrates, they were right in the eyes of God. Therefore, this was a strong evidence to disapprove the American culture.
According to the rule of gods, it was wrong for a person to end his own life unless ordered to do so by law. This rule was disapproved where Socrates expresses no fear for death. He explains that hope and faith is what enables a philosopher to face death when they are in accordance with the principles that regulates his entire live. The world did not know that the life of a philosopher is based on everyday rehearsal of dying thus with this he would be in a position to disapprove their culture.
The philosopher would also be able to disapprove the contemporary American culture when he succeeds in convincing them to acknowledge the true meaning of a wise person. According to them a true wise philosopher is the one who knows everything and cannot even be corrected. Socrates proves that a wise man is the one who pretends to be ignorant and asks more question about an issue so as to know more (Plato, 12). For instance, he pretended to be ignorant about the meaning of the piety and he questions Euthyphro so as to get his view and opinion on the term yet he knew its true meaning. Therefore, his intention was just to enable him to prove that Euthyphro did not know the true meaning of the term although he claimed to do so.