Philosophical Review: Plato's Apology of Socrates

I was rummaging through my philosophical book collection and thought it might be a fun to write a review on philosophical texts from time to time. If anyone wants my opinion on a particular document just let me know and I'll read it and share my impressions. Just like with History there is an academic way to write about philosophy but unlike with History where I choose to ignore it I don't actually know it because I only took the most basic Philosophy class and we didn't write papers. Philosophy majors will have to put up with my layman's style or go write their own paper. This turned out a ton longer than I thought but I promise its worth it.

I want to do Plato's Apology. To get a few things out of the way first in this sense Apology comes from the Greek word apologia, its Greek title, when means defense speech in a legal proceeding. As Plato often did in his writings it's Socrates speaking words Plato wrote later. Sometime he uses this to present his own ideas as if they were Socrates's. We don't really know what happened at the trial. Another student of Socrates, Xenophon, wrote his own Apology that was very different. To be fair to Plato, Xenophon wasn't actually in Athens at the time. He signed up as a mercenary for a coup attempt against the Persian Emperor that went horribly, horribly wrong and was desperately fleeing across Southwest Asia with the most powerful army in the world chasing him at the time of the trial. For simplicity I am just going to go with it and write as if Plato was the court stenographer. For direct quotes I'll give you the Sephonopolis citations which are standard in all editions.

Background:
A few years earlier Athens lost the 27 year Peloponnese War that absolutely wrecked Greece and primed it for the Macedonian army under Alexander the Great to crush it. The War was fought by a coalition of democratic cities led by Athens and a coalition of oligarchic cities under Sparta. When Athens was starved out by a siege the Spartan Army occupied the city and installed an Oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants. Also, I am originating unconfirmed rumors that when the Spartans marched into to the city center of Athens in unison they shouted "THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!" Pass it along.

As a landed citizen Socrates fought as a Hoplite heavy infantryman in several important battles and from all accounts fought bravely. Other important background notes include the trial of the Ten Generals. After a naval victory a storm approached and the commanders failed to launch a rescue attempt as a result. The men were tried as a group instead of individually because the masses were whipped up in a fury even though this was against the Law. Also, the Thirty Tyrants tried to implicate as many other citizens as possible in their crimes to defuse guilt to as many as possible.

Socrates was charged with impiety, not believing in the gods the city believed in, and corrupting the young, a charge sadly missing from our legal system. I decided not to give a blow by blow summery because that was boring even me but rather I will pick out salient points of philosophy and examine them. Early on he tells the story of a childhood friend who went to the Oracle in Delphi to ask Apollo, the Greek God of Wisdom, if there was anyone wiser than Socrates. When his friend returned with the response that there was not, Socrates became troubled and sought out a politician, a craftsman and a poet. He found they knew lots of things he didn't but noted that they weren't as smart as they thought they were. They thought that because they had mastered one thing they had wisdom in all areas, which they didn't. Socrates concludes that the meaning of the Oracle's response was that while other men might know things he didn't, he at least knew he didn't and was therefore teachable. The first step to wisdom is a willingness to learn and an open mind.

As we go along Socrates starts to get into what he thinks the roll of a philosopher should be and how he goes about it and this is where things pick up. Socrates relates that if you had horses you would send them to a horse breeder who could tame and refine them into being the best and most useful horses possible. His question then is if we do that for horses why shouldn't we do that for people? As Socrates goes on he will make it clear that he sees his purpose in life to be like that horse breeder for the men of Athens and help them develop their souls.

Interspersed in here he is cross-examining his accusers and making them look foolish. At 28-b he responds to any who wonder if he regrets his life's work now that he is on trial for his life with is excellent retort. "You are wrong, sir, if you think that a man who is any good at all should take into account the risk of life or death; he should look only to his actions, whether what he does is right or wrong, whether he is acting like a good or bad man." After mentioning Achillies' actions in revenging the death of his cousin, knowing full well it would cost him his life, because he knew it was what must be done.

We pick up again at 28-e. "This is the truth of the matter, men of Athens: whenever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, or has been placed by his commander, there he must remain and face danger, without a thought for death or anything else, rather than disgrace. It would have been a dreadful way to behave, men of Athens, if, at Potidaea, Amphipolis and Delium, I had , at the risk of death, like everyone else, remained at my post where those you elected to command he ordered me, and then, when the god ordered me, as I thought, to live the life of a philosopher, to examine myself and others, I had abandoned my post for fear of death or anything else. That would have been a dreadful thing, and then I might truly have justly been brought here for not believing that there are gods, disobeying the Oracle, fearing death, and thinking I was wise when I was not. To fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils."

I know I promised to summarize and not transcribe but some of these passages are so beautiful I can't help myself. The first thing to go over is where he relates it to battle. As a Hoplite he, like all land owning middle class, fought in a phalanx formation where heavily armored men with spears pack as tightly together as possible and move as one. As long as everyone stays in place its almost impossible to break. However, one man fleeing can cause the formation to collapse and the battle to be lost. Two of the battles he mentions fighting in were utter routs. Veterans of those battles who routed were sure to have been in the 1000 man jury. This marks the beginning of Socrates' questionable defense strategy of insulting the jury as much as possible.

Socrates then balks at a plea deal of an acquittal in exchange for giving up philosophy and explains his method of walking up to people with the following. Note I switch out the word Athenian with American and city with country because I think its more powerful that way. "Good Sir, you are an American, a citizen of the greatest country with the greatest reputation for both wisdom and power; are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation and honors as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible state of your soul?" He says if anyone disputes his accusation he won't go away until he has interrogated them to his satisfaction. You can begin to see why he is unpopular, someone who runs around full time calling people immoral is bound to piss some people off. If there is one thing he is good at it's pissing people off. Just in case he was not inflammatory enough he starts to explain that this behavior is why he is god's greatest gift to Athens. I am not making that up, he actually explains how being a kind of a jerk makes him the greatest divine gift of all.

To add insult to injury he brings up the trial of the Ten Generals. The way they did the trial was illegal and when Socrates, as a member of the council, voted against it he was nearly arrested and executed along with them. He also points out that since then everyone recognized they shouldn't have done what they did. Socrates brings up the period of the Thirty Tyrants and an instance when he and others were summoned to arrest someone for summary execution and at risk of his own life refused to do it because it was wrong. Apparently he thought telling a jury they were morally inferior to him was a surefire way to be found not guilty. Next he brings up that most of the time when someone is on trial they drag their family with them to weep and wail and beg for mercy to get out of it with a purely emotional strategy. Then he notes he didn't do that because he thinks its wrong, cowardly and corrupts the legal system.

When he is found guilty by a slim majority and the trial moves into the sentencing stage he tells them they are idiots for convicting him. Then he tells them that if the punishment is to fit the crime Athens should give him a mansion and a stipend so he can keep "blessing" them as the gods greatest gift to Athens. Also he tells them again he will never give it up as long as he lives.

When they give him the death penalty he tells them they will so live to regret it and those who voted for him to be killed will forever have his blood on their hands and live with great guilt. Later on he passes up several opportunities to escape and willingly drinks hemlock to see what death is like. This is what I call going out in style.

OK, now to step out of the text. As I noted at the beginning, this was written later and may or may not be accurate. I hope it is because I think the whole thing is great. Regardless of its historical accuracy there is a strong philosophical theme of standing by your principals no matter what. Socrates was concerned with ethics, i.e. becoming a good person. For him the welfare of the soul is far more important than worldly honors or possessions. However, unlike the ascetics that were common both then and now (most religions have some form of monasticism) he doesn't actually condemn material possessions. What he does condemn is the pursuit of them at the expense of the soul. Back to my favorite quote at 29-e, he asks the rhetorical question "Are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation and honors as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible state of your soul?" For him worldly things become immoral when our pursuit of them takes priority over everything else. I once heard the saying that "Money is good servant but a bad master." A scripture from the Book of Mormon comes to mind, Jacob 2: 18-19, "But before ye seek for riches seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good-to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and afflicted."

I can't remember which pre-socratic philosopher it was but one of them lived in a tub in the town square naked, often masturbating and whining that it was so unfair that hunger could not be similarly relieved but rubbing the belly and no I didn't make that up. We know that while Socrates cared little for worldly things he didn't go without them. We know he had a wife and children and also that he was a land owner because he served in the Athenian Army as a Hoplite which was only open to the land owning middle class. Plato by contrast came from a very wealthy family and served as cavalry, which was only open to those who could afford a war horse.

I think Socrates brought up the trial of the Ten Generals to make the point when you give up your principals and give in to external pressure who will live to regret it and to point out how he is able to live guilt free because he has moral fortitude. Socrates is held up and glorified as an ideal man, honest, true and faithful to virtue till the end. An interesting point to ponder is whether or not the story has a happy ending. The book A man for all Seasons covers the story of Thomas More, who was executed for not condoning the apostasy of Henry the VIII. Interestingly book ends with the quote "It is better to be a dead lion than a live mouse." and the film adaptation says "It is better to be a live mouse than a dead lion." I am not sure why the movie flipped the moral of the story but I digress. In the end Socrates dies, but as he made clear earlier, holding in place where you ought to be and doing what you ought to do till the end is the greatest example of virtue. I think that if he had caved in and survived this it would have been the greatest Greek tragedy of all.