Ethics-Philosophy in This Reading, Socrates Is Defending

Ethics-Philosophy

In this reading, Socrates is defending himself in the Athenian Court. He was accused of being a cosmologist and a sophist, someone who did not believe in divinity, ancient beliefs and supernatural forces. The reading addresses some important ethical issues from a philosophical standpoint. In ancient times, gods and deities occupied an extremely important position and it was a cardinal sin to deny their existence or to reject the possibility of their intervention in significant matters. For example, earthquakes or thunderstorms were not seen as natural disasters but rather prominent signs of gods' wrath.

Socrates however chose to walk a different path and felt there were natural explanations for such phenomena. However the elite of the society rejected his theories and accused him of being a non-believer and a 'corruptor of the youth'. Socrates himself mentions the charges against him in these words, "far more dangerous are these, who began when you were children, and took possession of your minds with their falsehoods, telling of one Socrates, a wise man, who speculated about the heaven above, and searched into the earth beneath, and made the worse appear the better cause." (Pg. 11)

We must understand the approach that Socrates had adopted being the wisest man in Athens. Socrates was seen as a both cosmologist and a sophist however he did not link himself to either school of thought. In his defense, he explains why the judges and elite of his country had accused of being an atheist. The charge of "investigating things beneath the earth and in the skies" automatically connected him to other cosmologists like Thales and Anaxagoras. While the accusation that Socrates believed in "making the weaker argument appear the stronger" indicated his affiliation with the sophist group. Socrates however did not admit being either a cosmologist or a sophist but felt that the charges against him had arisen because a deep misunderstanding regarding his true pursuits. He simply questioned different values and beliefs in order to unearth the truth and to explore the possibility of attaining real wisdom.

The only reason he interviewed the wise men was to "find out who is wise, and who pretends to be wise, and is not" and to urge them to seek true knowledge and not be driven by false pursuits of wealth and fame. But since the Greeks did not quite understand his motives and his theories, they accused of being a non-believer who denied the existence of god. However a close and careful study of this long dialogue reveals that Socrates was falsely accused for he indeed believed in the existence of God. For example he clearly indicates that the reason he interviewed the wise men of Athens was because he had been instructed by God to do so. "I went to one man after another, being not unconscious of the enmity which I provoked, and I lamented and feared this: but necessity was laid upon me - the word of God, I thought, ought to be considered first." This clearly suggests that Socrates did believe in the presence and existence of gods but being a wise man he couldn't digest the Athenian beliefs of supernatural influence and interference in every single matter. In short, he rejected the superstitions that prevailed in Athenian society and culture.