Apology Of Socrates Creative Writing Examples

Q1. The main goal of Socrates Apology was to defend Socrates from attacks leveled against him on the basis of the principles he professes. Getting acquitted is not of concern to him but the need to let the truth out is. He explains his reason for following his philosophical path. In the speech Socrates hints that knowledge might have been the possible explanation of why he was being convicted by earlier accusers such as Meletus before the trial”I will try to show you what has caused this reputation and slanderis none other than a certain kind of wisdom. What kind of wisdom? Human wisdom, perhaps”He seeks to impart the core basis of philosophy where he urges the court that admission of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom. He backs this statement by reminding the jury that through his examination of various learned individuals of the society such as politicians, craftsmen, poets, prophets and seers. Through his assessment, politicians turned out to be impostors, craftsmen a pretentious lot, poets confused of their art and the prophets and seers happened to be clueless of their utterances. He proclaims that an individual was better off being himself rather than an impostor. This revelation helps him show the reason why many were prejudiced against him for being annoyingly a highly inquisitive individual.
He also uses the remainder of his speech in explaining how he deems fit for men to live, approach actions they take. This is illustrated by his symbolic comparison to a gadfly brought by the gods to sting Athens from their slumber. He is not shy to assert that Athenians need him to enlighten and help them lead fulfilled lives.
Q2. Socratic irony is used to expose the inaccuracies of the accusations, prejudice and the ignorance of the accusers. His cross-examination of one of the accusers, Meletus, employs irony to extract a contradiction. Meletus contradicts himself by saying that Socrates believes in spiritual agencies and demigods while earlier he had accused Socrates of not believing in any gods at all. There is no possibility of the two accusations being true. The irony, focusing on the Meletus contradiction, portrays the accusers push for the trial as motivated by malice and gossip rather than the truth. He ironically explains that far from him being irreligious, his mission is godly. This was in justification of the Oracle of Delphi and Chaerephon’s conversation on Socrates being the wisest for being aware of his ignorance.
The irony in my opinion acts as a comic effect in the apology literature. It is intellectually stimulating as it pushes one to critically evaluate statements rather than comprehend them on their plain face value. The Socratic irony shows there is no rigid connection between being serious and speaking the truth. Socrates shows us the truth will remain the truth no matter how one conveys it provided it is not distorted. Socrates may appear less serious in the apology but his argument is truthful.
Q3.Socrates is guilty of impiety. This is exhibited clearly in the Oracle of Delphi scenario. He brings up the Oracle of Delphi in his defense so as to show that he is not an atheist or impious to the Athenian gods. The belief in the Oracle story was based on the fact that it endorses him as the wisest individual in the Athens. He takes to his stride to test the divine assertion rather than committing to the piety. A religious individual would take the pious way which would have been blind belief to the oracle. The questioning of the Oracle of Delphi’s assertion is not pious in any way and exhibits the characteristics of a non-believer or an atheist. It is prudent to say that Socrates may not have stood by the Oracle if the answers to his questions would have been inconsistent to the story. This clearly shows that Socrates was fully inclined towards to human reasoning rather than the gods which makes him guilty of impiety.