Socrates Apology Analysis

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Apology of Socrates In Plato’s Apology, Socrates states his last words of defense at trial. Socrates is known for going around and speaking to people in service to the gods. Meletus accuses Socrates of corrupting the youth and believing in other divine things and teaching the same thing to others. Socrates argues that these are all false accusations held against him. He is only philosophizing because it is his duty as a human and points out the flaws of his accusers. According to Socrates, his wisdom is worthless but also benefits the city. Socrates believes there are three types of known wisdom. Socratic/human wisdom is to know that one does not know or be aware of the limits of one’s personal knowledge (21d). Divine wisdom, on the other…show more content…
Socrates has encountered many experiences in his life to which he believes this statement is true. He knows that he is wiser than most people because he accepts the fact that he does not have boundless knowledge to validate his wisdom. He uses his journey of visiting the politicians, poets, and craftsmen as an example. “Each of them, because of his success at his craft thought himself very wise in other most important pursuits, and this error of theirs overshadowed the wisdom they had, so that I asked myself, on behalf of the oracle, whether I should prefer to be as I am, with neither their wisdom nor their ignorance, or to have both” (22e). Socrates believes the craftsmen have some sort of wisdom since they are successful at their crafts, but their error is thinking that they are wise in other matters because they know they are good at their work. The craftsmen are not aware of the limits of their knowledge, and think they know more than the knowledge that they have already obtained. Wisdom is then believed to be worthless because to have knowledge, you must also have good judgment and vice versa. Socrates goes around questioning people of their knowledge because he wants them to truly think and to see if they have good judgment to live a fulfilled

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