This essay is about Socrates in the Apology. Socrates was a philosopher, a religious fanatic and a man of reason who lived to questioned why things are the way they are, due to his occupation of questioning and reasoning he was later brought to court on charges of corrupting the young and encouraging people not to believe in godly things that are recognized by the state as said by his accusers. During his trial he said quite a numerous things in the Apology and he was found guilty by the juries and was sentenced to death. So, in this essay I will be explaining why he thinks that death should not be always avoided during his trial on apology. And I will be explaining my position regarding what Socrates has said that we shouldn’t always avoid
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He is particularly worried with the outcome of a thrilling fear of death on an individual’s motivation to act virtuously. To be exact fear of death makes cowardice and injustice tempting, as a petty injustice can fend off threats to one’s person and may at times prove sufficient to save one’s life. “For to fear death, gentlemen, is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. For no one knows whether death might not be the greatest of all goods for a human being, but people fear it as if they knew well that it is the greatest of evils. And how is this not the most blameworthy ignorance to believe one knows what one does not know? On this point and in this respect, gentlemen, I perhaps differ from most people, and if I were to claim that I am wiser than anyone in anything, it would be in this, that because I do not adequately know about things in the house of Hades, so I do not think I know (29a5-b6).In other words, Socrates suspects that he is wiser than his fellow death-fearing citizens because he is epistemically responsible. However, in his parting speech to those who voted to acquit him, it seems he reneges on his claim of ignorance by arguing that death is a benefit. First, he reflects on the silence of his spiritual guide, or demonian, in the proceedings that have led to his death sentence
He is particularly worried with the outcome of a thrilling fear of death on an individual’s motivation to act virtuously. To be exact fear of death makes cowardice and injustice tempting, as a petty injustice can fend off threats to one’s person and may at times prove sufficient to save one’s life. “For to fear death, gentlemen, is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. For no one knows whether death might not be the greatest of all goods for a human being, but people fear it as if they knew well that it is the greatest of evils. And how is this not the most blameworthy ignorance to believe one knows what one does not know? On this point and in this respect, gentlemen, I perhaps differ from most people, and if I were to claim that I am wiser than anyone in anything, it would be in this, that because I do not adequately know about things in the house of Hades, so I do not think I know (29a5-b6).In other words, Socrates suspects that he is wiser than his fellow death-fearing citizens because he is epistemically responsible. However, in his parting speech to those who voted to acquit him, it seems he reneges on his claim of ignorance by arguing that death is a benefit. First, he reflects on the silence of his spiritual guide, or demonian, in the proceedings that have led to his death sentence