What Are The Charges Against Socrates - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Review Philosophy History. Was Socrates a martyr for philosophy, a victim of inquisition and intolerance?

Navigation menu

Or was he a dangerous oligarch, a subversive troublemaker, overthrowing Athenian morals and pedagogical practices? Historian Paulin Ismard picks up the investigation, placing the trial of Socrates within the intellectual context of 4 th -century Athens and considering the history of its reception over the centuries. His text is structured around this dual task, with the largest section chapters 1 to 6 devoted to analysing the trial in the context of the late 5 th century, and the remaining chapters 7 to 9 examining some of the principal revised readings of the trial.

It is more than just a catchy title.

The trial of Socrates is an event insofar as it offers a way of observing the workings of Athenian democracy, through a sort of snapshot of the power relations, struggles, and stakes running through it at a crucial point in its history. Ismard is right to underline the importance of this pamphlet, which unfortunately has not survived and the contents of which can only be surmised from references made by later authors. In this chapter, P. In order to understand this in turn, it is not enough to simply outline how it unfolded. First, it is important to explain just how different the workings of Athenian law were compared to those of our modern legal institutions, and P. Ismard does so admirably. What Are The Charges Against Socrates than defending himself, he chose to critique Athenian democracy and question the very foundations of the democratic regime.

It is also necessary to re-examine the specifically political context of the trial, where democracy had recently been re-established after the oligarchic rein of the Thirty However, unlike many other historians, Paulin Ismard refuses to Sorates the trial of Socrates as a purely political affair, as nothing more than a score being settled between different factions of Athenian political life.

In describing the norms of ritual practices in the city-state, P.

To quote this article :

Ismard brings something essential to light. He shows that piety in Athens was a question of social behaviour, a civic issue rather than an issue of conscience or Socrrates religiosity. The impiety that Socrates was actually accused of was not so much to be found in any particular stance taken towards the gods as in his social behaviour and pedagogical practice, reflected in the third charge of corrupting the young.

What Are The Charges Against Socrates did Socrates personally fit into the Athenian political sphere? In order to answer these questions, P. It therefore no doubt gave rise to hostility because it appeared as a subversive force working towards the dissolution of traditional ties structuring the city-state.

Nota Bene:

Was it his arrogance during the trial? His links with the oligarchic faction? His personal religiosity? His teachings? Or was it all these at once? At a time when Athens was looking for the consensus that was indispensable to civic harmony, it could no longer tolerate the repeated stings of the Socratic gadfly, constantly questioning its foundations and principles. It is therefore not one cause but a combination of several causes that can explain why the Athenians condemned Socrates.]