The Socratic Citizen

Assignment I: Is Socrates a proficient citizen? Discuss with credit entry to the Apology and the Crito. The Socratic Citizen Platos Socrates is a character plagued and prized with contradictions. He professed to care for nothing so much as uprightness and human excellence but was incriminated by the greatest and closely open democracy in ancient history. He was wrongfully convicted, yet unwilling to avoid his unjust execution. He is at once the most Athenian, citizenly, patriotic, and other-regarding of philosophersâ€"and yet the most critical and self-regarding of Athenians. In exploring that contradiction, between Socrates the loyal Athenian citizen and Socrates the philosophical critic of Athenian society, Aristotles Politics comes to mind: the good citizen need not of necessity possess the virtue which makes a good man. Socrates duality, as illustrated by the Apology and Crito, qualifies him as both a good man and a good citizen. The Apology presents Socrates as a highly patriotic citizen who attempted to improve his fallers through ripe provocation and criticism of popular ideas. Socrates avoided addressing the Assembly and engaging in a public life, but he carried out his critical obligations in public places as well as in private houses.

The Apology opens with Socrates justifying himself and his way of life onward a jury of his Athenian peers. It shows him speaking in a public forum, def culminationing the utility of philosophy for political life. Socrates destination is a rhetorical masterpiece; but by its end he has not aligned himself with the democratic norms embraced by his fellow citizens. It is valuewhile to note that Socrates never defends himself by reference to the dogma of unlimited free speech. Rather, he maintains that the examined life is alone worth living. His is a highly individual quest for self perfection and not a doctrine about the value of license of speech in general. Socrates capacity to do good for his fellows is implied by his clever... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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