Plato · Philosophy
Plato’s portrait of his teacher Socrates on trial for his life - defending the philosophical life, declaring that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living,’ and choosing death over the betrayal of his principles.
In 399 BCE, the philosopher Socrates - Plato’s teacher - was put on trial in Athens, charged with impiety (not believing in the city’s gods) and corrupting the youth. The real reasons were political and personal: Socrates had spent his life questioning the citizens of Athens, exposing the ignorance of those who claimed to be wise, challenging conventional beliefs, and associating with controversial figures - making powerful enemies and seeming, to many, a dangerous gadfly. Plato’s Apology (Socrates’ defence speech) portrays Socrates before the court, defending not just his life but the philosophical life itself - the life of questioning, examining, and seeking wisdom and truth. The trial of Socrates is one of the most famous and consequential events in the history of philosophy - the moment when philosophy itself, in the person of Socrates, was put on trial for its life.
At the heart of Socrates’ defence is his ringing declaration of the value of the examined life - the life of questioning, examining, and seeking truth and wisdom. Offered the chance to save his life by giving up philosophy (ceasing to question and examine), Socrates refuses: he cannot give up the philosophical life of questioning and examining, for ‘the unexamined life is not worth living.’ A life without questioning, examining, reflecting on oneself and one’s beliefs, seeking wisdom and truth - a life lived unreflectively, without self-examination - is, for Socrates, not worth living; it is the examined life, the life of questioning and seeking wisdom, that is worth living and that makes us truly human. Socrates would rather die than give up the examined life - the life of philosophy, questioning, and the pursuit of wisdom - for a life without it is not worth living. This declaration - that the unexamined life is not worth living, that the examined life of questioning and seeking wisdom is the life worth living - is one of the most famous and influential statements in the history of philosophy, the founding declaration of philosophy as a way of life and of the supreme value of the examined life.
Socrates accepted his death with remarkable calm, courage, and integrity - becoming the supreme example of the philosopher who lives and dies by his principles. In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates spends his final hours discussing philosophy (the immortality of the soul) with his friends, calm and untroubled, and drinks the hemlock (the poison of his execution) with courage and serenity, dying as he had lived - in the practice of philosophy, faithful to his principles, with integrity and courage. Socrates’ death made him the supreme martyr for philosophy - the man who lived and died by his philosophical principles, who chose death over the betrayal of his commitment to the examined life and to justice, who faced death with the calm, courage, and integrity of one whose life was devoted to wisdom and the good. His trial and death became one of the foundational events and images of Western philosophy - the philosopher martyred for philosophy, the man who lived and died by his principles, the supreme example of the examined life and of integrity unto death. Socrates, through Plato’s portrayal, became the patron saint and founding martyr of philosophy.
This is the opening of the lesson. The rest — the dialogue, the primary source, and the recall — is in the app.
You learned that Plato portrayed Socrates on trial defending the examined life and choosing death over betraying his principles. Reconstruct the trial, Socrates’ defence, and its meaning in your own words.
Leads to Henry David Thoreau.
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