Apology

Description

Apology, by Plato, is one of the most outstanding works of philosophical literature ever written. Depicting the defense of Socrates – Plato and Xenophon’s illustrious teacher – this writing presents the struggle of a man fighting against a system that he saw as ignorant and unjust, while masterfully defending his own point of view in an effort of transforming an archaic belief system.

Socrates’ teachings lay the basis of western philosophy and are also an extremely insightful and well-written example of how the power that wisdom can truly have against the ignorance of those still believing in vengeful gods and resistant to thought-provoking progress.

The famous philosopher begins his defense by stating that he is unaware of whether or not the “men of Athens” have already been persuaded by those who called themselves his accusers. He then clearly implies that his purpose is to focus on conveying the truth, instead of trying to achieve a successful defense through oratory skills and rhetoric. Throughout his speech, Socrates goes on to masterfully dismiss many of the accusations brought against him, and present his own account through eloquent, insightful, persuasive and wise sentences that have withstood the test of time, and remain to this day among the most famous words ever to be written.

Plato’s Apology is a dialogue in three parts that first introduces Socrates’ defense in the court of law. After that comes his argument to mitigate the penalty that was imposed on him and his criticism of the death sentence. Meletus is the only one of the accusers to speak throughout Socrates’ trial, the scholar facing his accusations with intelligent questioning and an outstanding resolve.

Although ultimately Socrates’ philosophy can be somewhat difficult to understand, Plato’s detailed and simplified presentation makes it much more accessible even to those reading it more than 2,000 years later.
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