The Trial and Death of Socrates, Plato

Created: October 12, 2024
Updated: November 08, 2024

Euthyphro

A dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro, an athenian prophet. Euthyphro is taking his father to court for the murder of a paid servant, and despite the situation being ambiguous in the eyes of Athenian law, he claims with strong conviction that doing so is right.

Since Socrates has been placed on trial for impiety, Socrates asks Euthyphro what it means to be pious since he must have a clear understanding if he is so resolved in his position.

Euthyphro gives four definitions, none of them satisfactory:

  • Piety is bringing charges against your father for manslaughter. Socrates points out that this is only an example, rather than a definition.
  • Piety is what is pleasing to the gods. Socrates argues that there are things which are pleasing to some gods and not the other, and so some actions could be both pious and impious at the same time.
  • Piety is what all gods love and impiety is what all gods hate. Socrates then poses what becomes known as the “Euthyphro dilemma”: Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods? Socrates argues that something becomes beloved when it is loved by someone, and so definition of the pious can’t rely on what all gods love since there needs to be a priori characteristics inherent in the pious.
  • Piety is an art of sacrifice and prayer. Socrates argues that this doesn’t work, since if sacrifice and prayer are gifts for the gods, then the pious must be what is pleasing to the gods. But this leads back to definition two.

Apology

This is the most famous of the dialogues in this set. Here Socrates defends himself at his trial, and is ultimately sentenced to death.

But, men of Athens, the good craftsmen seemed to me to have the same fault as the poets: 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.

“Socrates, we do not believe Anytus now; we acquit you, but only on condition that you spend no more time on this investigation and do not practice philosophy, and if you are caught doing so you will die;” if, as I say, you were to acquit me on those terms, I would say to you: “Men of Athens, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point to any one of you whom I happen to meet: ‘Good Sir, you are an Athenian, a citizen of the greatest city with the greatest reputation for both wisdom and power; are you not ashamed of your eagerness to possess as much wealth, reputation and honours as possible, while you do not care for nor give thought to wisdom or truth, or the best possible state for your soul?’”

“Whether you believe Anytus or not, whether you acquit me or not, do so on the understanding that this is my course of action, even if I am to face death many times.”

I have a divine or spiritual sign which Meletus has ridiculed in his deposition. This began when I was a child. It is a voice, and whenever it speaks it runs me away from something I am about to do, but it never encourages me to do anything.

Perhaps one of you might be angry as he recalls that when he himself stood trial on a less dangerous charge, he begged and implored the jurymen with many tears, that he brought his children and many of his friends and family into court to arouse as much pity as he could, but that I do none of these things, even though I may seem to be running the ultimate risk.

“The unexamined life is not worth living”

I would much rather die after this kind of defence than live after making the other kind.

If it is a complete lack of perception, like a dreamless sleep, then death would be a great advantage.

Crito

This dialogue is a conversation between Socrates and his friend Crito after it takes a while for Socrates to actually be executed. Socrates argues against his own rescue from prison.

Phaedo

This dialogue is about Socrates’ actual death, and contains lots of discussions on the nature of the soul

I am afraid that other people do not realise that the one aim of those who practice philosophy in the proper manner is to practice for dying and death.

I thought that I must be careful to avoid the experience of those who watch an eclipse of the sun, for some of them ruin their eyes unless they watch its reflection in water or some such material. A similar thought crossed my mind, and I feared that my soul would be altogether blinded if I looked at things with my eyes and tried to grasp them with each of my senses.

And while he was saying this, he was holding the cup, and then drained it calmly and easily. Most of us had been able to hold back our tears reasonably well up till then, but when we saw him drinking it and after he drank it, we could hold them back no longer; my own tears came in floods against my will. So I covered my face. I was weeping for myself, not for him – for my misfortune in being deprived of such a comrade.

He walked around, and when he said his legs were heavy he lay on his back as he had been told to do, and the man who had given him the poison touched his body, and after a while tested his feet and legs, pressed hard upon his foot and asked him if he felt this, and Socrates said no. Then he pressed his calves, and made his way up his body and showed us that it was cold and stiff. He felt it himself and said that when the cold reached his heart he would be gone.

Shortly afterwards Socrates made a movement: the man uncovered him and his eyes fixed.

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