Socrates Apology Essay, Research Paper
Socrates made the correct choice to continue with his “Apology” after he received this guilty verdict. Socrates continued his defense after he received the guilty verdict for several reasons. I think the reasons why he continued his defense are: he wanted to acknowledge the Athenians who voted for his acquittal and guilt, and the jury still had to decide Socrates’ punishment. When the jury gave him the death penalty, Socrates’ continued his defense to tell the people who found him guilty that he was not afraid of death.
When Socrates continued his defense after he was sentenced to death, he was justifying his actions in court that may have influenced the jury to give him the death sentence. He defended himself for not crying or begging to the jurors in order to avoid the death sentence and pointed out the irony of the city’s brave men who do anything to avoid a death sentence. Also, Socrates warned those whom convicted him, that even when he dies people will still question others, and that his death will just encourage people to question others beliefs and the status quo.
I agree with Socrates that it is a disgrace to Athens when men start crying to avoid punishment. However, Socrates should have recognized why those people beg to avoid death. I think they beg to avoid death, because in their beliefs they only have one life on Earth. Since, they only have one life on Earth; they might as well stay on Earth as long as they can. I think that Socrates did believe that life was precious, but he did not say anything about it to the jury, because he did not want to give the jurors whom convicted him any pleasure in his sufferings.
Socrates was an intelligent person, but I can see why he had many enemies. When Socrates debated people he made them feel stupid and embarrassed. Since nobody likes to feel stupid or embarrassed, Socrates became unpopular. Maybe if Socrates would have tamed it down a little, he could have gotten his point across to people and they would not have disliked him so much. I have some very strong feelings and beliefs, but I know that if I make people feel stupid when I’m discussing my beliefs, they would just object to everything I say and stop listening to me altogether.