The Apology

Plato

Plato's The Apology is an account of the speech Socrates makes at the trial in which he is charged with not
recognizing the gods recognized by the state, inventing new deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens.
Socrates' speech, however, is by no means an "apology" in our modern understanding of the word. The name
of the dialogue derives from the Greek word apologia, which translates as a defense, or a speech made in
defense. Thus, in The Apology, Socrates attempts to defend himself and his conduct—certainly not to
apologize for it.
For the most part, Socrates speaks in a very plain, conversational manner. He explains that he has no
experience with the law courts and that he will instead speak in the manner to which he is accustomed: with
honesty and directness. He explains that his behavior stems from a prophecy by the oracle at Delphi which
claimed that he was the wisest of all men. Recognizing his ignorance in most worldly affairs, Socrates
concluded that he must be wiser than other men only in that he knows that he knows nothing. In order to
spread this peculiar wisdom, Socrates explains that he considered it his duty to question supposed "wise" men
and to expose their false wisdom as ignorance. These activities earned him much admiration amongst the
youth of Athens, but much hatred and anger from the people he embarrassed. He cites their contempt as the
reason for his being put on trial.
Socrates then proceeds to interrogate Meletus, the man primarily responsible for bringing Socrates before the
jury. This is the only instance in The Apology of the elenchus, or cross-examination, which is so central to
most Platonic dialogues. His conversation with Meletus, however, is a poor example of this method, as it
seems more directed toward embarrassing Meletus than toward arriving at the truth.
In a famous passage, Socrates likens himself to a gadfly stinging the lazy horse which is the Athenian state.
Without him, Socrates claims, the state is liable to drift into a deep sleep, but through his influence—irritating
as it may be to some—it can be wakened into productive and virtuous action.
Socrates is found guilty by a narrow margin and is asked to propose a penalty. Socrates jokingly suggests that
if he were to get what he deserves, he should be honored with a great meal for being of such service to the
state. On a more serious note, he rejects prison and exile, offering perhaps instead to pay a fine. When the jury
rejects his suggestion and sentences him to death, Socrates stoically accepts the verdict with the observation
that no one but the gods know what happens after death and so it would be foolish to fear what one does not
know. He also warns the jurymen who voted against him that in silencing their critic rather than listening to
him, they have harmed themselves much more than they have harmed him.
Socrates’ claim that these new critics will be younger and harsher is borne out by The Apology itself, in which
Plato provides a damning criticism of Meletus and the Athenian justice system. Plato is right in saying that
Socrates is unique and original: no one like him has appeared in the subsequent two-and-a-half millennia. On
the other hand, it is also true that his influence did breed a whole new generation of critics. In fact, Socrates
almost single-handedly gave birth to the Western rational philosophical tradition, and if all philosophers that
have come since are following in his footsteps, his form of criticism has multiplied exponentially.

TERMS

Apologia
Socrates' speech is by no means an "apology" in our modern understanding of the word. Instead, the name of
the dialogue derives from the Greek apologia, which translates as a defense, or a speech made in defense.
Thus, in The Apology, Socrates attempts to defend himself and his conduct—certainly not to apologize for it.
Aporia
Aporia is the Greek term for the state of helplessness—the inability to proceed—that ends all of Plato’s early
dialogues. Through his pointed questioning, Socrates succeeds in showing that his interlocutors have no
appropriate definition for the topic under consideration (be that topic piety, love, courage, justice, or whatever
else), but nor is he able to supply one himself.
Elenchus
Elenchus is the Greek term for Socrates’s method of questioning his interlocutors. In an elenchus, he attempts
to show that their own beliefs are contradictory, and thus to prove that they do not have knowledge about
some topic about which they thought they had knowledge.
Knowledge
According to Plato, knowledge can only pertain to eternal, unchanging truths. For instance, you can know that
two plus two equals four, because this will also be the case. However, you cannot know that Meno is
beautiful. For this reason, only the intelligible realm, the realm of the Forms can be the object of knowledge.
See also Opinion.
Opinion
Since only eternal, unchanging truths can be the objects of knowledge, all other truths are relegated to
opinion. Opinion is the highest form of certainty that we can hope for when it comes to the visible realm, the
realm of sensible particulars. See also Knowledge.
Presocratic Philosophy
"Presocratic" philosophy refers to Greek philosophy untouched by the influence of Socrates. The Presocratics
date back to the sixth century BCE, when thinkers began to question the existing mythological explanations
for the existence of the world, the universe, and matter, and began looking for physical explanations instead.
Among the famous Presocratics are Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and Parmenides.
Socratic Irony
Socratic irony is a form of indirect communication employed by Socrates to reveal the ignorance of his
interlocutors while insincerely praising their abilities. This technique is deeply informed by the elenchus.
Socrates even occasionally practices it against himself although philosophers today are divided as to his
sincerity while doing so.
Sophism
The ancient Greek method of rhetorical philosophy. For Sophists, truth is a matter of persuasion and belief
rather than a matter of knowledge and truth.
Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras was born in Clazomenae in Ionia (the land of the Milesians) around 500 BCE Like his Milesian
predecessors, he was a busy public figure. For thirty years he lived in Athens, where he was the first
philosopher to become a well-known teacher in the city that would soon become the hotbed of philosophy.
Among his students were the dramatist Euripides and the famous Athenian politician Pericles. His association
with Pericles ended up getting him in trouble; In 450 BCE (or 430 BCE, some sources vary) he was
prosecuted for impiety by the Athenian state (like Socrates and Aristotle after him), an event that was
probably orchestrated by political enemies of Pericles. Popular outcry against Anaxagoras was heated, fueled
in large part by his declaration that the sun was not a god but a hot mass of molten rock, larger than the
Peloponese. He was convicted of atheism and exiled to the northern Ionian city of Lampascus, near Troy. He
died there in 428 BCE.
Aristophanes
Aristophanes was a playwright who wrote plays between 427 to 387 BCE. He lived in the time of Socrates
and Thucydides, a generation behind Sophocles and Euripides. Aristophanes produced at least forty plays,
eleven of which have survived to modern times, including The Clouds, which parodies Socrates. Many of
Aristophanes’ plays offer social satire or commentary. Little is known about his life beyond the work that he
produced, though Plato did include Aristophanes as a character in The Symposium.
Chaerephon
Socrates’ friend who received the prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi that proclaimed that there was no one
wiser than Socrates.
Meletus
The chief accuser of Socrates, responsible for bringing him to trial. Little is known about Meletus and by all
accounts, he seems to have been a rather insignificant figure. Plato's portrayal of him, both in The
Apology and in The Euthyphro is far from sympathetic. Socrates' cross examination of him in The
Apology puts Meletus to shame.
The Oracle of Delphi
An oracle is a person who serves as a medium for receiving prophecies or advice from the gods. The oracle of
Apollo at Delphi was the most famous and most revered oracle of the ancient world. The oracle declared
Socrates to be “the most free, upright, and prudent of all people” rather than the most wise. In either case, the
oracle made a positive claim about Socrates. Also of relevance to The Apology is the famous motto inscribed
above the entrance to the oracle at Delphi: “Know thyself.”
Socrates
The protagonist of The Apology, as well as all of Plato's other dialogues. Socrates seems to be a very simple
man, not having many material possessions and speaking in a plain, conversational manner. However, this
seeming plainness is all a part of the ironic characteristic of Socrates' method. Professing his own ignorance,
he engages in conversation with someone claiming to be an expert, usually in ethical matters. By asking
simple questions, Socrates gradually reveals that his interlocutor is in fact very confused and does not actually
know anything about the matters about which he claimed to be an expert. The quest for wisdom and the
instruction of others through dialogue and inquiry were considered by Socrates to be the highest aims in life:
one of his most famous sayings is, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Some have argued that Socrates himself never advanced any theories of his own, and certainly many of the
doctrines that appear in the later dialogues are of Plato's invention. In early dialogues, such as The Apology,
Plato presents us with a Socrates who is less informed by Platonic philosophy and serves more as foil for his
interlocutors who claim to have positive knowledge.
The Sophists
The Sophists were teachers-for-hire who educated the wealthy men of Athens in the fifth century BCE.
Though they were a diverse group with varying opinions, they tended to share a disregard for the notion of
objective truth and knowledge. This disregard extended to the notion of objective moral truth, which means
that they did not believe in such things as “right” and “wrong.” One of the guiding motivations in all of
Plato’s work was to prove the Sophists wrong: to show that there is such a thing as objective truth, and that we
can have knowledge of this objective truth.
Core Ideas
Socratic Irony as a Form of Humble Acceptance
Core Ideas Socratic Irony as a Form of Humble Acceptance

Socrates affirms that he knows only by knowing nothing, in order to deter being inflated by a false sense of
his own great wisdom, as proclaimed by the oracle at Delphi. Though many took Socrates to be an expert in
the fields in which he questions others, Socrates denies any expertise, and interprets the oracle as saying that
the wisest of men are like himself who humbly accept that their wisdom is deficient. Most of Plato’s early
dialogue—those that center more on Socrates’ thoughts than on Plato’s own—are concerned with ethical
questions, and so we can reconcile Plato’s accounts by saying that Socrates’ wisdom is a kind of ethical
wisdom, one that would make him supremely free, upright, and prudent.
The Delphic oracle, which proclaimed that Socrates was the wisest of men because he knows that he knows
nothing, can be posited as the source of Socratic irony. This oracle has led Socrates to assume his highly
ironic stance of confessing his own ignorance, and yet showing his interlocutors to be even more ignorant than
he; great wisdom turns out, contrary to expectation, to reside in a humble acknowledgment of ignorance. With
wisdom of this kind, Socrates does not take himself too seriously. Indeed, his wisdom is deeply humbling, as
it casts all pretensions to human knowledge into question. With a smile, Socrates accepts that he is better off
the less he thinks he knows and passes this wisdom along with appropriate wit.
The Elenchus and the Philosophical Process
Platonic dialogues that actually involve a significant amount of dialogue generally take the form of the
elenchus—this is especially true of Plato's earlier dialogues. The elenchus is both a form of debate and a form
of inquiry: by proposing and refuting hypotheses, two people proceed, primarily through negations, toward a
positive knowledge (or at least toward an understanding that they do not know what they thought they knew.
This type of Socratic irony, then, deeply informs the elenchus, Socrates' preferred mode of inquiry. It is
important to note that almost all written accounts of Socrates are dialogues (The Apology is an exception)—
Socrates never lectures on his beliefs in a one-sided manner. This supports the idea that Socrates has no
knowledge of his own to put forward.