Analysis Of Socrates Corrupting The Youth

The corruption of youth is a crime with dire consequences. It is essential to help cultivate young peoples’ minds and refuse to give up until they have completely immersed their mindset in a logical way of thinking and rational point of view. However, this is not an easy job and it often comes with protests from people who don’t agree with a specific method of teaching. Socrates was a victim of such opposition in 399 B.C Athens. Meletus claimed that Socrates corrupted the youth through his teachings. However, upon further inspection of the readings, it is clear that it was actually Meletus who was guilty of corrupting the youth and placed the blame upon Socrates. Firstly, Meletus’ ability to corrupt the youth is perfectly displayed through …show more content…
Meletus overlooks this aspect of being a good educator. He did not realize that by immediately chastising instead of correcting Socrates, a great lesson was lost for the youth. In 26 A of the Apology, Socrates brings this argument against Meletus by saying, “You, however, have avoided my company and were unwilling to instruct me, but you bring me here, where the law requires one to bring those who are in need of punishment, not of instruction.” If Meletus were at all interested in the welfare of the youth in his city, he would have spoken with Socrates and tried to help him instead of publicly humiliating him and allowing the youth …show more content…
Here, Socrates points out that it is extremely unlikely that in his society the majority of the people would contribute to the betterment of the youth and for there only one corrupter in Athens, in this case him. He says “It would be a very happy state of affairs if only one corrupted our youth, while the others improved them.” (Apology 25 B) He alludes back to 13 B of Euthyphro with the mention of the horse and horse breeders, where only the horse breeders are able to help the horses, meanwhile anyone else who is not a horse breeder and owns and uses horses, corrupts them. He says, “Tell me: does this also apply to horses, do you think? That all men improve them and one individual corrupts them? Or is quite the contrary true?..” (25 B Apology) Here, it is quite obvious that Socrates is arguing that Meletus would be part of the majority that corrupts the youth instead of helping them. There is no better way for Socrates to remain in his innocence and for Meletus to be proved that he is the one corrupting the youth than this