Socrates

Focusing on the Socrates trial, his actions were not against any religious values but he was prosecuted for being impious. He was charged because he did not recognize and respect the gods which were recognized by the State, he introduced new divinities and corrupted the youths.  In the ancient Greek, citizens demonstrated third holiness by presenting rituals and ceremonies to their ancestral.  On the other hand, Socrates did not value the gods and he lived in a society where gods were viewed as power-hungry creatures (McCannon, 2010). Despite the fact that human beings used to honor the gods with sacrifices and prayers, Socrates had a different conception and believed that the rituals and sacrifices offered were useless and his actions were based on disconnecting the divinity from the identity and practical roots of the city (McCannon, 2010).

In the Euthyphro, Socrates believes that piety is anything that pleases God.  Socrates was strong in religious issues but in Euthyphros he argues on morality with relation to religious principles (O’Sullivan, 2006). He introduces the divide command theory and asserts that the actions which are morally good are approved and anything that is pious pleases god.  People should have the moral obligation to obey the God’s commandment since God commands the right things and forbids the wrong things. During the conversation in Euthyphro, Socrates follows the divine command theory and asserts that God commands things which are morally right (O’Sullivan, 2006). In addition, morality is not a command but it is God’s omnibenevolent nature and human being should not violate it. Thus, people must have self-analysis and implement a coherent personal plan in order to eliminate conflict between ethical and religion. He tries to explain that piety is not something which is desired by gods and gods do not have control over things which are morally good.  The point is that the divine power influences the pious and gods can enhance goodness through influencing the human environment, the human nature and the peoples in the moral community (O’Sullivan, 2006). According to Socrates, prayers and sacrifices are impious because they are done to benefit God and God does not require human acknowledgment. God has the power and he is provider of everything. He goes on and states that prayers and sacrifices are beneficial to man and this is clearly understood by focusing on care of God and care of man. A human being can do nothing to care God since he needs nothing from man and thus, man cannot benefit God.

 

In his defense speech, Socrates asserts that his actions rooted from prophesy and he recognized himself as the wisest. He rejects that he is a teacher and he does injustice by introducing new things and in corrupting the youths he asserts that he has never been a teacher to anybody   and he had never taught any instructions.  In addition, he raises the Xenophon problem and asks “How can Athenians maintain that homonoia is of paramount importance if they have failed to recognize the value of a common education?”(Mintz, 2014). Homonoia should be provided by expert knowledge and according ti Socratyes, he is interested in culture and education. His intention is not to mislead the youths but to shape their behaviors.  Since he is referred as impious for many reasons, he defends himself by saying that he calls himself wise but he knows nothing. He ignored the teachings of wise men and enticed the youth of Athens to follow his teachings (Mintz, 2014).

 

The Socrates’ view of religion is explained from the standpoint of Athenian religiosity (Giordano-Zecharya, 2005).  His accusations with respect to atheism and disbelief make his religion explicit. In his religion, he believes that Athenians did not have fundamental beliefs of God.  He asserts that in the Greek religion, there were no fixed doctrines. Their beliefs, prayers and sacrifices did not have any significance and their ritual actions were intrinsic ambiguity.  Based on religion, he concludes that a religion practices should be rationalized by beliefs. Also there should be ways which specifies the set of beliefs and practices. Socrates did not belief in gods and he asserts that he believed in spiritual things and taught the right things. His accusations clearly show that he misinterpreted the Athenian rituals and beliefs; He offended the gods   and viewed their beliefs as culture of ritual and incongruity of faith (Giordano-Zecharya, 2005).  He contradicts with Athenians beliefs of holding customary and asserts that they were being misled by the gods.  He believes on   having a conviction, having subjective opinion on a conviction and having confidence in his beliefs.

The views of Socrates accusers and view of Socrates differ since they both viewed the reasons for accusation through a different angle. The accuser’s views were based on the idea that Socrates must worship the gods so that he can be considered a believer (MORRIS, 2011). The accusers found him guilty for not worshipping the gods, corrupting the youths and introducing deities.  On the other hand, Socrates believed on virtues and morality and when discussing the issue of worship he focused on morality.  He rejected the traditional views and believed in one God and believed that the State should be led by wise men. Both accusations were normal and reasonable in that they showed the conflict between two religions in the State. Socrates aim was to lead the nation and teach the youth the morality for future development and leadership (MORRIS, 2011). He introduced the role of ethics and apology to show that the actions they did toward their gods were not morally acceptable in the Athenian society. His actions acted as a threat to the city since the accusers believed that any person who has a power to control is an indication that he has the power to control the future government. Note that being the introducer of political philosophy led him to meet the accusations since there was conflict between the philosophy and Athenian community (MORRIS, 2011). It is right to say that his views acted as a threat and caused the religious charge as he was trying to reveal the new cultural life with respect to the law.  His political affairs and power of improving human soul and uniting the city with philosophy puts him to trail and by understanding the indictment he apologizes for being imprudent (MORRIS, 2011).

 

Meletus could convince the jurors that Socrates was not atheism during his trail when he states that he is accused for doing a research on thing above and things on earth.  In the initial claim, Socrates  asks  whether a human being should live in a place where there are good or bad people, Meletus responds that  it is  good to live with good people  to avoid harm which may be caused by bad people (McCannon, 2010). Then, Socrates asserts that he cannot corrupt the youth in that he has lived with them as good people and if his intention was to harm them, he himself could also be harmed.  At this time, Meletus could withdraw the case and conclude that Socrates was corrupting the youths unintentionally. He asserts that he does not dishonor Athen believes but he uses his knowledge to examine new things (McCannon, 2010). He states that wise people in Athens should do their research and he will not rejecting their beliefs.  While doing his research and in introducing new teachings, he does not do that for the purpose of money but rather he focuses on changing the youth and directing them to the wise things (McCannon, 2010).

 

Reference

O’Sullivan, B. (2006). The Euthyphro Argument (9d-11b). Southern Journal Of Philosophy, 44(4), 657-

675.

 

Giordano-Zecharya, M. (2005). As Socrates Shows, the Athenians Did Not Believe in Gods. Numen:

International Review For The History Of Religions, 52(3), 325-355.

doi:10.1163/156852705774342824

 

McCannon, B. C. (2010). The median juror and the trial of Socrates. European Journal Of Political

conomy, 26(4), 533-540. doi:10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2010.03.005

 

Mintz, A. I. (2014). Why did Socrates Deny that he was a Teacher? Locating Socrates among the new

educators and the traditional education in Plato’s Apology of Socrates. Educational Philosophy &

Theory, 46(7), 735-747. doi:10.1080/00131857.2013.787586

 

MORRIS, T. F. (2011). THE WAY IN WHICH SOCRATES IS RELIGIOUS: THE EPILOGUE OF THE FIRST SPEECH

Of THE APOLOGY. Heythrop Journal, 52(1), 2-13. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2265.2009.00540.x