Abstract This paper looks at the trial and execution of Socrates from the perspective of Plato, the general moral and religious ideology of Greek society during that era, Greek fathers, and prominent Athenians. The paper also provides an overview of the arguments Socrates presented in his self-defense and his reasons for refusing to escape the death penalty.
From the Paper "As one of the greatest and most influential of all the Greek philosophers, Socrates (469--399 B.C.E.) passionately believed that just behavior was better for human beings than injustice and that morality was justified because it created happiness and well-being. Essentially, Socrates seems to have argued that just behavior, or virtue, was identical to knowledge and that true knowledge of justice would inevitably lead people to choose good over evil and therefore to have truly happy lives, regardless of their material success. Since Socrates believed that knowledge itself was sufficient for happiness, he asserted that no one knowingly behaved unjustly and that behaving justly was always in the individual's best interest. Thus, as Socrates defined it, "moral knowledge was all one needed for the good life" (Stone 168)."
