For:Tom Mutanga

Running Head: SOCRATES RESPONSES TO MELITUS ACCUSATIONS 1

Yue Su

PHIL110

Feb.26th

Socrates Response to Meletus’ Accusations that He Corrupts the Youth

Socrates’ response to Meletus as to whether he was corrupting the mind of the youth

was inadequate. Here is why: Socrates, at first, did not defend himself directly by giving an

explanation as to why the youths were endeared to him, nor did he explain the interests he

shared with the youth. Instead, he invoked the name of Anaxagoras the Clazomenian as the

one person who made such a statement, notwithstanding the fact Anaxagoras the

Clazomenian was not party to the legal tussle that was unfolding between the Socrates and

Meletus at that particular time. Socrates notably and wittily exposed Meletus’ contradictory

tendencies by commenting on how his mistakes would not slip the attentions of the jury

(Woods & Pack, n.d.). Later on, in a move that appeared to paint Socrates as innocent,

Socrates explained that he had avoided politics because he wondered if he would ever be

successful in steering any legislative reform process. It could be argued that by saying so, he

was trying to demonstrate to the jury that he would not command any substantial following in

his capacity as a civilian; therefore, he could not even influence the youth as alleged by his

enemies.

Socrates’ response was overtly inadequate in my view; he had the chance to give a

logical explanation as to why he was being vilified. This way, he would have given room for

a fair determination to be made in his case. Socrates would have stuck to the truth and given

the following explanations that the young men, especially from the middle class, had been

drawn to him on the account that they enjoyed listening to his expose on the ignorance of

those people who falsely boasted to be wise. Furthermore, he would have explained that such

people had incessantly mounted a fight to create a perception among people that he was an

SOCRATES RESPONSE TO MELETUS ACCUSATIONS 2

evil person and did things that contradicted the doctrines of Athens. Socrates, nonetheless,

did none of that. Socrates instead called Meletus to step forward and make his case against

him. Meletus obliged but apparently contradicted himself in some instances (Colaiaco, 2001).

Socrates in one instance, responded to Meletus’ claim that he was an atheist, who did not

believe in the godhead but instead educated people that the sun is the stone and the moon is

the earth. Socrates from his actions, appeared to focus on Meletus’ contradictions as way of

weakening his case. Socrates even commented that the judges were too keen and that they

would notice the mistakes in Meletus accusations.

Socrates would have lamented that his enemies had repeatedly besmirched his name

and that peoples’ perception of him had been greatly affected. To corroborate his assertion,

he would have given an account of how Aristophanes had adduced his name in play for a

character who claimed to have had powers to perform extraordinary things such as walking

on the air (Colaiaco, 2001). Socrates would have again made a plea to the jury to order an

investigation as to why powerful individuals were keen on ensuring that his reputation was

tarnished; furthermore, he would have explained that such treatment from people such as

Aristophanes played a role in shaping the kind of perception people have of him (Colaiaco,

2001). Socrates, however, did not fight enough to save his life. Just before his sentence was

passed, he had denied all the accusations levelled against him except for the fact he had

encouraged people to think for themselves. It appeared that he believed in his faith to the

extent that he was ready to face the consequences of his actions, if at all encouraging people

to think for themselves was in contradiction to the laws of Athens.

Socrates respected due process of the law. He had also fought for justice two times in

his lifetime against popular forces and now he was ready to face death despite the fact that

there were other options at his disposal. Perhaps Socrates had lessons that he needed people

to learn from his death.

SOCRATES RESPONSE TO MELETUS ACCUSATIONS 3

References

Colaiaco, J. (2001). Socrates against Athens. New York: Routledge.

Woods, C., & Pack, R. Socrates of Athens: Euthyphro, Socrates' Defense, Crito and the

Death Scene from Phaedo. SSRN Electronic Journal.

http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1023142