Socrates-Trial and Death

Essay # 3608

Literature > Greek and Roman
Philosophy > Ancient Greek

A discussion on the trial and death of Plato as depicted by Plato.

1,020 words () | 0 sources | 2001 United States

↶ Look Inside

Paper Summary:

This essay examines the trial and death of Socrates as shown by Plato's "Apology" and "The Crito."

From the Paper:

"The trail of Socrates was not so much against the individual as against the intellectual class. It took place at a time when Athens had been defeated in war and the moral of people was low. The state needed a scapegoat who could be punished as a cause of the defeat. Thus, Socrates then represented the intellectuals who had begun questioning the state and thus, had to be suppressed in authority was to be held in the traditional manner.

At his trail in The Apology Socrates had asked what morality was but was given no definite answer. In The Crito as he awaits death he suggests that morality explores the concept of the good things in life and is the determining factor in the happiness of the human life."