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Charges against Socrates Socrates was one of the classical Greek philosophers who lived in Athens. Socrates is most renowned as one of the founders of Western philosophy. Socrates is portrayed in Plato's dialogues that have made him renowned in the field of ethics. Philosophers like Aristotle referred to Socrates in words that linked him to the doctrine of ‘Virtue is Knowledge’ this is through Aristotle’s Magna Moralia. The author of the book Socrates against Athens views Socrates as a person who out of superiority of virtue, reserved all final moral judgement to himself. (Colaiaco 223). In his Metaphysics Aristotle state that Socrates was obsessed with the search for moral virtues and was the first …show more content…
Socrates was accused of teaching the Athenian young people to doubt the status quo. Socrates accusers argued that he was a morally abominable man who influenced the Athenian youth into atheism and sophistry. In his defense, Socrates claimed that the young, wealthy people of the city had nothing to do with their time and opted to follow him observing and questioning his intellectual arguments. Again it should be noted that Anytus the driving force in Socrates prosecution another gripe with Socrates. Colaiaco sees the trial of Socrates as collision between two defensible positions. …show more content…
This is also proven by Plato in the Phaedo where he says, they not only condemned an innocent man but also the best, the wisest and most upright of them all. (Phaedo 118a)Historians, however, view the conviction of Socrates as deliberate. From the accounts of Plato and Xenophon, Socrates was not focused on convincing the jurors of his innocence but rather provoked them and lectured them. Socrates is considered the first martyr of free speech for as Jesus needed the cross to fulfill his mission, so did Socrates need the hemlock to fulfill