How Did Socrates Corrupt Athens

As a response to Meletus’ accusations, that he had been a negative influence on Athens, Socrates deconstructed his claims and revealed them to be inconsistent. More specifically, Meletus claimed that Socrates had corrupted the youth of Athens and failed to acknowledge the gods the city worshiped while encouraging daimonic activity. To address this charge, it must be broken into two main fragments or claims. They can be categorized as: corrupting the community and denying the existence of gods. By examining the nature of these accusations, it becomes evident that they are weak and incoherent arguments. Beginning with the first claim, it is important to note that in the accusation, it is defined by the prosecutor that the defendant was the sole source of corruption in Athens. On the other hand, it is also noted that in the same definition, the rest of Athens was defined as a mentor to the up bringing of the youth. The defendant established that the description the prosecution offered for the nature of corruption was insufficient and untrue. He pointed out that even in nature, …show more content…
On the other hand, if it were true that only one man was the source of corruption in a city, the youth would flourish, as the probability of being positively influenced outweighs the likelihood of being negatively influenced by a landslide. However, because the prosecution claimed that the defendant proved to be a negative influence on Athenian youth, he indirectly admitted that the youth as a whole at the time was corrupted enough to take the defendant to trial. However, this proved inconsistent with the established beliefs that both good and bad people affect those closest to them and that all of Athens, save the defendant, was a positive influence on the youth. The defendant then stated that because the accuser failed to acknowledge this phenomena from the start, he truly does not care for the