Why was Socrates convicted?

?
View mindmap
  • Why was Socrates convicted in 399BC?
    • Trial
      • negative tone throughout the trial was increase the chance that the jury wouold find him guilty
        • blunt
      • Apolopgy
        • his defence
        • his associates
      • charges
        • Corrupting the youngs
        • impiety
    • Pre-Socratics,  progressive thinkers and sophists
      • When Pericles began to be upopular when proposing his Acropolis rebuilding programme, Anaxagoras was thrown under suspicion
        • shows there's guilty via associatio
      • Athens felt threatened by non-conventual views
        • Euripides left  Athens because his plays were forward thinking
      • distrust of sophists may have fed into the accusation that Socrates 'corrupted the young'
    • Arguments that he wasn't impious
      • He believed in the Oracle of Delphi
        • urged his friends to use the oracle because the god knew more than he
      • he conducted religious acts
        • eg sacrifices
        • argued by Xenaphon
      • condemned the Sophists because of their conflicting beliefs and teachings
      • argued that he had a DAIMONION which acted as a voice of reason that guided his beliefs
        • however this could be negatively interpreted
    • Socrates' actions/ Public opinion
      • Socrates belived in the Oracle at Dlephi
        • when Athens believed Delphi to be 'Anti-Athenian' and Socrates believing in it, there was increased distrust and dislike towards him because of it. contributing factor.
      • gained a reputation for proving to people they weren't wise or intelligent. went round to people such as poets and prophets
      • Aritophanes' Clouds
        • makes Socrates sound more like a Pre-Socratic - somone who thought more about science
          • some less educated members f the audience might have taken literally what Socrates was saying in the play eg that he didn't belive in Zeus, when there is actually no evidence of this
        • due to his real appearance, Socrates is recognisable - easily made fun of in this
      • Xenophion believed this may have been the reason why the charges were brought forward
    • Politics
      • distrusted him because of who he was friends with
      • Following Pericles' death, Athens  was in political chaos - Socrates may have been a scapegoat for their problems
        • maybe people thought he was anti-democratic
      • Delphi

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Classical Civilization resources:

See all Classical Civilization resources »See all Philosophy resources »