The Apology
The Apology -Written Reflection-2 When unfolding the truths of ancient philosophy, one may come across three big names: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We might be familiar with the names but its astonishing to realize the fact that Socrates with his expertise on Philosophy never jot down his thoughts but thankfully his student Plato included Socrates as the main character in most of his writings to share his views and beliefs on various ideas while also displaying the noble character of Socrates. The Apology is a dialogue written by Plato to recreate the essence of the actual trial that took place against Socrates and the events that led to the great philosopher’s death.
Socrates was known to be the gadfly of Athens as he challenged people’s beliefs by engaging them in philosophical conversations and debates; also known as the Socratic method. Moreover, Socrates’s ideas were unconventional, and he was a free thinker which attracted many young people who admired him for his bold opinions and Plato was one of his youngest followers or students who over time became a famous philosopher himself. One of the most famous claims by Socrates was that the only thing he knew was nothing. He practiced Socratic Ignorance, which is a philosophical standpoint of maintaining the acknowledgement that one does not have any knowledge. Furthermore, there is a reason why Socrates had always claimed to know nothing that influenced his approach towards philosophy. Socrates had a friend who once visited the Oracle (powerful Gods like Apollo’s messenger) at Delphi and asked him, “Who is the wisest person of all?” To which the Oracle instantly replied: “Socrates!” Once Socrates had decoded what the Oracle meant, he sets out on a mission to expose people’s ignorance only with the intention to make them wiser and elevate them to his level. However, while trying to walk the path of Apollo or interpreting Oracle’s message to help people, Socrates made a lot of enemies by exposing people’s ignorance publicly as people felt that Socrates was looking down on them, making them look stupid and embarrassed. Even though, Socrates realized people’s bitterness towards him yet he chose to walk down the path of what he believed to be his duty to Apollo.
The Apology begins with Socrates on trial for three main accusations: Corrupting the youth as he had many followers, not believing in the official God of the state and practicing a new religion of the supernatural. However, before an attempt to defend himself, Socrates clears the misconception of “False Socrates”, which was basically the fact that the jury and people already had views and opinions about him (false perception of him), or they already had a point against him, so he must defend himself from that first. He clears up the misconception about himself that he is a “Fee- earning teacher of virtue” by claiming that he could not be a teacher let alone charge fee for it when he himself has always claimed that he knows nothing.
After clearing up all misconceptions about himself, Socrates responds to the charges by attacking the people who accused him by making them realize that they didn’t know what they were talking about. Consequently, Socrates reflects on the life he has lived and the choices he has made that have led him to be on trial today by saying,” The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates emphasis that it is not enough to exist in life, life on its own is not worth living…one must find meaning to their life, there needs to be more curiosity, adventure and questions. Socrates realized he may be put to death, yet he chose to reflect on the topic of an unexamined life because there is nothing that Socrates would do differently as he had truly questioned and pondered upon the meaning of life. He had done everything in his power to enlighten the people and bring them close to the truth of life. He had a strong sense of integrity and love for the people of Athens, and he wanted to let them know that one must live a true life and fulfill their duties regardless of the consequences. Additionally, he explains that people must not fear death, it is not wise as we don’t know what death is. It could be either of two things: we go into a deep sleep – with no more conscious experience, no pain and no pleasure, or wake up in another world and begin a new adventure in a new world! Alas! Socrates was found guilty and sentenced to death. However, the prosecution proposed a choice to Socrates, to pick his own path to death (in essence, it was just an attempt to make Socrates apologize for his actions and to pledge to not commit them again to escape death). Socrates had integrity and lived his philosophy of life with pride, he refused to lie or apologize for his actions instead he proposed the idea that his punishment should be to become the ward of the state because of his service to the people of Athens through his philosophical pursuits. To this, the prosecution responds by keeping their word and are waiting for the festivals and celebrations to end, to finally put an end to Socrates’s life.
However, the people of Athens loved Socrates and admired him, nobody wanted him to die. So, one of Socrates’s friends visits him with a plan to help Socrates escape Athens, while he is held in a prison; his friend tips the jailer to allow him to free Socrates. Socrates could very well escape in the moment, but he refuses to escape and explains that escaping the punishment passed by the justice system of Athens will be a message to everyone in Athens that he had no faith in the justice system, and if people lost faith in the legal system, the society would crumble. Moreover, he believes he must protect Athens for the country raised him to be who he is today. Hence, Socrates refused to escape and died by drinking poison.
On reflecting upon the sad yet noble dialogue: The Apology, I have great respect for Socrates, and I admire him for his philosophy of life. I believe that to live an examined life means to seek a dream or passion for something and be of service to the people around us. For me, an examined life is to pursue my aspirations while inspiring as many people as I can along the way. I completely agree with Socrates when he remarks that it is better to not live at all than to live an unexamined life because going through the motions of life with no sense of direction or understanding is meaningless and results in no knowledge, adventure, joy, experience, thrill or wisdom. To be born and living almost over half a century on earth, to just go where the current of life takes you with no purpose of our own, with no dreams that scare yet thrill us and no character of our own but something that people made us is just a dull and hollow life with an unfulfilled void of creation or adventure of our own. But to live a life where one strives to be something, stands tall in the face of fear, creates something of their own, be of service to people with something as small as to make them smile, having the guts to be bold and standing up in face of adversity as well as for what he or she believes in, becoming a character of your own choice and to leave a legacy that people can learn and look up to even long after you are gone is what I call the experience of Life! I believe in today’s world; people do not live an examined life that Socrates taught us to live. Socrates wanted us to question and ponder upon the meaning of our existence, he wanted us to look at life through the lens of curiosity and adventure. However, most people are seen following two paths. Firstly, people follow the herd or do what has been forced upon them. For instance, we are primed since childhood that life is supposed to be like school-college-job-marriage-retire-death. So, we often never question the cycle, one could become an artist instead of getting an 8-8pm job but since that’s what our parents and friends are and have been doing, we give in to the same fate not being curious about the talent that we have, or to be adventurous and taking the risk to explore something unique for ourselves. Secondly, people go through the motions of life without seeking meaning behind all of it. For example, scrolling through Instagram or watching Netflix mindlessly without the intention of gaining something from it. In the modern world, access to immense knowledge is now easier than ever and just a click away. If one really wanted to live an examined life, he or she could simply look up the meaning and ways to live a fulfilled life. However, technology and the busy lives entangled with work and responsibilities have made it difficult to take a moment, pause and reflect upon the “why” behind our actions or even simply be able to sit with ourselves and get to know who we are- the person we live with our entire lives!
To put it in a nutshell, The Apology is not only a dialogue to describe the story of Socrates but is a sneaky treasure of extremely significant philosophical lessons that can influence a person’s approach to life. Ironically, Socrates who claimed to know nothing was indeed the wisest of all as he whole heartedly accepted what others thought to be demeaning: To not know anything is the first step to wisdom and to accept our own ignorance is not humiliating but enlightenment!
Srishti Saini
PHIL-1A -The Apology-Written Reflection-2 https://globalbuzznetwork.com/the-ship-of-thesus-writing-reflection-1/