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  • Essay / Proving Socrates' innocence through his appeal to ignorance

    Socrates' innocenceAt the age of seventy, Socrates is summoned to court to defend himself and his conduct for two main reasons: being atheist (creating false gods) and corrupting the youth. Socrates must defend himself from the false accusations brought against him. Many have made accusations against Socrates for many years; but Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon accused Socrates “of wrongdoing in that he busies himself with studying things in heaven and under the earth; he transforms the worst into a strong argument, and he teaches the same things to others” (Plato 23). Ironically, in Socrates' eyes, the reason he believes he is wise is due to the simple fact that he knows he knows nothing and admits it. Therefore, in this article, based on Socrates' appeal to ignorance, I will argue that he should be declared innocent. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Afterward, a friend of Socrates goes to the Oracle of Delphi where he learned that he (Socrates) was the wisest of men because he realizes he knows nothing. Socrates refutes this statement and addresses one of these renowned wise men, thinking that he could refute the oracle and tell him that there is someone wiser than him. However, in his quest for redemption, Socrates meets several "experts", consisting of a poet, an artisan/politician, and an orator, who he thought were wiser than him. As a result, these men came to dislike him and Socrates withdrew, exporting their ignorance and realizing that he was wiser. “Socrates thought: “I am wiser than this man, it is probable that none of us knows anything useful, but he thinks he knows something when he does not” (Plato 25). Socrates concludes that he is wiser to this extent because he realizes that the connection between virtue and wisdom and the importance of one's own self-knowledge could be beneficial to society as a whole in its together, and not just for one man. the Apology, Meletus, Anytus and Lycon accused Socrates of corrupting the youth. However, Socrates believes that Meletus is hypocritical in the sense that he made accusations against Socrates and brought many people to court to hear this case. Meletus pretended to care about the corruption of the young when all he really cared about was seeing Socrates' conviction. Socrates tells Meletus that if he corrupted the youth, it was reluctantly. Socrates says: “Either I do not corrupt the young, or if I do, it is reluctantly” (Plato 29). Socrates admits that he does not always have the answer and that he is not always right in his choices. But, in his defense, Socrates believes that by asking questions and admitting his ignorance, he will learn better and stop doing what he is doing. Socrates continues by saying to Meletus: "But you have avoided my company and would not teach me, but you are bringing me here, where the law requires that those who need punishment be brought and not of instruction” (Plato 29). ).Moreover, Meletus never cared about this matter. Socrates believes that Meletus must instruct him, advise him on his so-called “bad deeds”. Socrates believes that “the law does not require that you [Meletus] bring people to justice for such unintentional wrongdoings, but that you bring them into contact in private, and instruct and exhort them” (Plato 29). However, Socrates wonders who is an expert in this kind of excellence, who is wisest, who should be the judge? Once again, Socrates questions all the different conceptions and deliberates over who is an expert 42).