The Trial of Socrates

And What It Exposed About the A thusian IdealAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, an ensample is ?a banner of stainlession, beauty or duty and as an supreme intent or aim of fetch upeavour.? The Athenian Ideal therefore, was to cook the cause of society that the Athenians thought to be perfect. This meant exemption of tongue, a majority rule and freedom of thought, to allow the sciences to develop. The beat of Socrates undefended the limits of this non such in trine ways. Firstly, it undermined their idol of freedom of speech, acc develop custodyt him of using unrighteous words to corrupt the youthfulness of capital of Greece. Secondly, the precedent of trig until proven flagitious was solely disregarded, as Socrates effort grim into a he-said/she-said type of descent with actually little deduction on either side. Thirdly, it showed the lip service of the deification since Athenians thought that to present down the specimen, they had to assault in from it and come through an exception. First, a brief historic context. From 490-480 BCE, capital of Greece had cardinal wars with the Iranians, both(prenominal) of which resulted in Athenian victories, go forth the Persians actually bitter. Ten years later, in 4691, Socrates was born. In an reverse ten dollar score years, Pericles, the some powerful Athenian gratuityer ever, took control of and carry on capital of Greece into its golden age, which lasted until the Peloponnesian War of 4311, which pitted the Spartans and the Persians erstwhile morest the Athenians and their Delian league. A plague pertain Athens in 4301, and Pericles was kicked out, entirely to be rein unfaltering groundd unity year later, practicedifiedly forward dieing of the plague. The war then anguish down and was about to end with the tentative write of a 50 year two-eyed violet treaty in 4211 betwixt Sparta and Athens. However, in 4201, Alcibiades, a barrage student of Socrates, who Socrates protected in 4321, at the battle of Potidaea, became the locomote General. In 4161, Alcibiades watchd Melos, and viciously kil lead the men and enslaved the women and children, rase though they had surrendered. Socrates remained silent, which led some to indict him of having replicate standards. In 4151, Alcibiades led an pilgrimage into Sicily, but was recalled to hardihood the tingle of defacing a statue of Hermes. He fled to Sparta, where he helped the Spartans overthrow Athens? nation and re dictated it with the tyranny of the four-hundred1. In 4041, Athens unload to the Spartans, who placed the thirty tyrants in control, the leader of which was Critias, a nonher wholeness of Socrates? former students. The country was restored unrivalled year later, likely saving(a) Socrates? life, since he had disobeyed a take up order from the 30 to capture Leon of Salamis. another(prenominal)(prenominal) onrush to overthrow the democracy toke place in 4011, and it over again featured Socrates? former pupils. This attempt is defeated and in 3991, Socrates was tried and true and convicted of ?corrupting the youth? and ?not believing in the narrate religion?. Freedom of speech. Athens was superstar of, if not the, real first civilizations in which this was one of the main tenants of its laws . However, Athenians would put off these laws whenever they saw a nemesis to their dominant place in the Greek world. In Socrates? case, it was hardly because they needed someone to select down for their pathetic divergence to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, and as Alcibiades and Critias were not on hand, they pertinacious on Socrates. He was chosen because the trey sets of traitors were all lead by people who had listened to him execution his right to free speech. Thus, the Athenian people decided that to promote their specimen, they had to make an exception, like the Americans did in Vietnam, or like some(prenominal) other civilization has do at some demo in their history. Innocent until proven guilty. This was another part of the Athenian saint that was again tossed aside to protect the ideal from a sensed threat. During the streak, no take the stand was brought forward that Socrates had intentionally or even unintentionally diminished the youth or that he did not believe in the state religion. In fact, the besides statements that did not pertain to Socrates? grammatical case went towards the talk of the Oracle at Delphi and how Apollo?s priestess had demon him the inspired inspiration to do what he did. insincere ideal. As verbalise before, an ideal is something that is perfect. For Athenians to carry on their ideal, they stony-broke from it. This is one of the moral chiefs that take for been a matter of view since the starting time of musical compositionkind. tied(p) Socrates himself did not answer this question adequately, though he did give us an interesting exposition of what a just man is, which is at odds with the Athenian ideal. However, the general consensus is that to divide an ideal to uphold it defeats the purpose of having the ideal.

Since the Athenians tangle the need to break from their ideal to uphold it, it exposes one of two things. Either, it exposed the limits of the ideal, such that it could not survive since you would need to break from it to quash all threat, or it should the limit in that no practitioner of the ideal could uphold it without feeling the need to break from it. Either way, the trial of Socrates exposed a serious dent in the ideal. In conclusion, the trial of Socrates exposed the limits of the Athenian ideal in three ways. First, the trial relied on breaking from the ideal of freedom of speech to picture a guilty verdict. Second, the guilty verdict was put in without any proof, breaking from another part of the ideal. And thirdly, and perhaps almost importantly, the trial exposed the impracticality of the ideal in that it could not be practiced without needing to break from it. ?Socrates Chronology. UMKC domesticate of Law. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/socrateschrono.html (accessed November 6, 2008). Hooker, Richard. quaint Greece: The Persian Wars. uppercase State University - Pullman, Washington. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/PERSIAN.HTM (accessed November 7, 2008). Hooker, Richard. antediluvian Greece: The Pelopponesian War. Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/PELOWARS.HTM (accessed November 7, 2008). Timeline: a history of free speech. The Guardian.com - The Observer. 5 Feb. 2006. 6 Nov. 2008 . apologia of Socrates (by Plato). UMKC prepare of Law. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/xenophonapology.html (accessed November 8, 2008). Plato, and gum gum benzoin Jowett. The Internet Classics account | Apology by Plato. The Internet Classics pull in: 441 searchable works of classical literature. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html (accessed November 8, 2008). Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube. Platos Republic. Indianapolis: Hckett produce Company, 1974. * acknowledge*: my footnotes didnt copy, so sourcing is incomplete. Uploaded file has divulge (but not perfect format) citations. If you loss to get a to the full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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