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Essay 1
Philosophy 1101
Socrates is religious by a more modern definition of religion than the one of his contemporaries. He is religious because he believes in the gods and works to promote better understanding of the nature of the gods. While the standard for religious piety was sacrifice and public prayer, Socrates devoted his life to honoring the gods through everyday actions. Socrates believes that the gods are inherently and exclusively good. What separates the gods from humans is their access to wisdom and their use of it for good. Through these beliefs, he justifies his lifelong mission to teach those around him that human wisdom is nonexistent and in order to truly honor the gods, one must put aside pretensions …show more content…
Socrates derives this personal agenda from the prophecy of the oracle who proclaims that there is no one who is wiser than Socrates (DS 21a). Socrates decides that this pronouncement must mean that no human can possess wisdom, because wisdom is a trait reserved for the gods, therefore Socrates himself is not wise. The accusers and jury at his trial view this announcement as further proof of his guilt while Socrates claims it is the opposite. When he professes ignorance to everything, his contemporaries take that to mean he is ignorant of the gods and does not accept them. Yet, this is not his aim. In saying that he knows nothing, he provides stronger evidence for his claim that the gods have true wisdom. If humans do not know anything, then it is arrogant and harmful for them to claim to know things which are in truth understood only by the gods. His method of serving the gods is his devotion to showing others that they know nothing. This service, while admirable from his religious viewpoint, is harmful toward his popularity and ultimately the conviction at his …show more content…
He is convicted of being irreligious and corruptive because his definition of religion is viewed as contradictory to the religion of the men who convict him. Socrates is religious not only because he believes in the gods as good and wise beings who provide all that is good for humans, but he works to promote his views of the gods in order to benefit others as well as