The Unjust Execution Of Socrates

Term Paper Title	The Unjust Execution Of Socrates
# of Words	853
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.41

The Unjust Execution of Socrates

               THE UNJUST EXECUTION OF SOCRATES

                        Michael Turack

                      Professor Pierson

                       History 101.02N

                   The University of Toledo

                           4/28/92

     In the vortex of life, many evils have transpired.

Vices such as plagues, unforeseen deaths, and corruptness.

Among the tragic acts of malefic proportion was the death of

the Greek philosopher, Socrates.  He tried to prove and

invalidate many theories through reasoning, and he was

murdered for his beliefs.  His execution was not justified

because the charges that were brought against him were false

and unfounded.

     The fist crime that Socrates was charged with was that

of impiety.  This charge was invented primarily to discredit

him and make him unpopular with the citizens.  The charge was

that of not acknowledging the same gods that the state

believed in.  Throughout the book, Socrates refers numerous

times to the fact that it is because of the gods that things

are as they seem to be.  "Do you suggest that I do not

believe that the sun and moon are gods, as is the general

belief of all of mankind?" (57).  The fact that Socrates did

not publicly speak about the gods attributed to the fact

that the charge was heresy.  Socrates maintains that he is

not like other philosohers.  He is a free-thinker, and his

beliefs are those of private and intimate thoughts of Gods.

Socrates also states that he is not a teacher, however he was

not at all happy with the analogy, but took it as a

compliment and used it in his defense.  He used these

accusations to his advantage by saying that he never charged

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charged anyone for believing or listening to them.  The

combination of these arguments should have cleared Socrates

of the charge of heresy.

     The second charge brought against Socrates was that of

corrupting minors.  Socrates battled this charge through the

use of the same arguments.  The argument that he did not

consider himself a teacher, the fact that he never accepted

any money for talking or listening to people, and the fact

that he believes in gods are what Socrates used to defend

himself.  By confronting the accusation that he was

corrupting the minors, Socrates tried to clear himself by

manipulating his arguments so that Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon

(the men who brought both charges against Socrates) had to

answer questions about these charges.  When the questions of

Socrates were placed before Meletus, his answers seemed to

have proven that Socrates was innocent.  However, when the

verdict was announced, it demonstrated the opposite.

     Upon hearing the...

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