One of the points clarified in this way is then, as mentioned above, Socrates' apparent stubborn foolhardiness in refusing to refute the court's decision. Xenophon notes that Socrates found death desirable over life. This is a point that Socrates himself also addresses in Plato's work, when he considers the possibilities of life after death. Socrates appears to consider both complete annihilation and the migration of the soul as preferable to his current life: annihilation would be like a restful and dreamless sleep, while the soul's migration would result in reuniting with old friends. Both of these possibilities are highly desirable to Socrates.
Unlike Plato, Xenophon places Socrates' ideas surrounding death at the beginning of his work. This places the rest of the philosopher's actions into perspective right at the beginning of the action. In Plato's work, on the other hand, the reader only receives this revelation when Socrates reacts to the death sentence.
As mentioned above, the issue of the court's corruption is also more explicitly and clearly explicated in Xenophon's work than in that of Plato. In Plato, Socrates appears oddly unsurprised by his sentence. Rather than the court specifically, he appears to implicate rival philosophers who brought him to his doom. This is further puzzling, as his defense appears articulate, and more than adequate to prove his innocence regarding all the...
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