Shame And Its Prevalence In Plato's The Apology

Shame and Its Prevalence Throughout “The Apology” There is this philosophical endeavor to investigate emotions and how they are applicable to a person’s identity, shame being one of the emotions (“Emotion: Philosophical Definition”). In the chapter “Apology” from 4 Texts on Socrates by Plato, Plato focuses on how Socrates proves to be Athen’s highly intelligent educator, so that Socrates can overcome the shame that he has for the city. Similarly, shame also occurs in this chapter because it will be a shame if Socrates cannot secure others and cure the pain people have to go through from society, which are other goals of his. His mentality affects his actions and relationship with others. These ideas on shame stem from his strong ideology …show more content…
Socrates is charged with the corrupting of youth and and impiety (24c,35d). According to him, it is a shame that he is getting charged because he is faultless. He states: “ I wondered most at one of the many falsehoods they told, when they said that you should beware that you are not deceived by me, since I am a clever speaker. They are not ashamed that they will immediately be refuted by me in deed, as soon as it becomes apparent that I am not a clever speaker at all; this seemed to me to be most shameless of them—unless of course they call a clever speaker the one who speaks the truth” (17b). The first sentence is interesting as it leads to a specific route, which effectively connects back to the overall quote. The tone of this quote seems to be confident -- Socrates is confident in his wise words, and he also repeats “clever speaker,” which further supports why he is confident. When conversing with the Athenian people, Socrates said he almost did not remember who he was. Thus, the quote is basically Socrates breaking down who he is and remembering himself. The erroneous accusations of Socrates became prevalent because humans did not sympathize with Socrates’ genuine actions, and Socrates is ashamed that he did not get people to understand him. Thus, being humiliated by a large group of …show more content…
Moreover, he only has this philosophical view, while no one else does. While he believes that there is possible hope and a higher being reaching out to him, he cannot find anyone sturdy enough, mentally, to handle his wisdom (Bova). What Socrates is emphasizing a lot regarding the idea of morals and humans striving for goodness is the consistency of a perfect pattern. Thus, Socrates cannot love or have strong bonds with others. Since Socrates is on his own, shame has engulfed him and this idea is heavily embedding into his brain, which impacts his actions, thoughts, and his relationship with