Pros And Cons Of Socrates

To add onto the political sources of tension in Athens that leaded to the trial and conviction of Socrates, another factor that contributed to the trial was the idea of the oligarchs vs. the democrats which Socrates played a major role in. Socrates was known to be a supporter of oligarchy which is a system of government where only the best few rule and made all the decisions for the polis: oligarchs were however unpopular with the polis because it was quite tyrannical and they were more in favour of democracy. An example of where Socrates presents his favour towards oligarchy is revealed when he questions the jurors using an analogy of horses “Do you believe that those who improve them make up the whole of mankind, and that there is only one …show more content…
Socrates believed that not everyone was wise enough to make their own political decisions as opposed to oligarchic rule where only the people of most expertise and expert would rule and make the decisions. Bringing out the weaknesses that the Athenian polis had in their democratic system of government was what had pushed bitterness and resentment towards Socrates which was a leading factor of his trial. Prior to the present democracy in Athenian society, the previous democrats of Athens had been put to exile by the oligarchs and they became infamously known as the ‘Thirty tyrants’. They were aristocrats who ruled Greece after the loss of the Peloponnesian war and were unpopular with the polis. Socrates introduces Chaerophon, a democrat who had asked the oracle if one was smarter than Socrates, and states that he aided in the exile of the Thirty tyrants: “Chaerophon… a good democrat who played his part with the rest of you in the recent expulsion and restoration” (21A).This represents how Socrates supported oligarchy where only the best people fit should …show more content…
When the thirty tyrants were in power, Socrates was ordered to arrest Leon of Salamis who would then be executed. Socrates refused to take part in the illegal arrest of Leon because he did not support the fact that he was going to be executed, however, instead of speaking up against the corrupt tyrants, he went home and left which he states in his trial in “The other four went off to Salamis and arrest Leon, and I went home” (32C/D). Socrates refused to execute him and take part in his arrest but he did not tell Leon that he was going to be killed which helped lead to his trial because it caused Athenians to view him as corrupt and dangerous. This also contradicts Socrates himself because he openly revealed his opposition to democracy when he did not support the execution of the generals, however he did not do the same with the aristocrats when they ordered the execution of Leon because it was under an oligarchic government which he supposedly supported. Interestingly, Socrates also devoted his life to spread his beliefs through the use of questioning people and challenging the way they thought about political decisions in order to get them to think for themselves instead of being influenced by their emotions or the