Apology (Plato)

For the article on Xenophon's work on the same subject, see Apology of Socrates to the Jury. For other uses, see Apology (disambiguation).
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The Apology of Socrates (‹See Tfd›Greek: Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους, Apología Sokrátous; Latin: Apologia Socratis), written by Plato, is a Socratic dialogue of the speech of legal self-defence which Socrates (469–399 BC) spoke at his trial for impiety and corruption in 399 BC.[1]

Specifically, the Apology of Socrates is a defence against the charges of "corrupting the youth" and "not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" to Athens (24b).[2]

Among the primary sources about the trial and death of the philosopher Socrates, the Apology of Socrates is the dialogue that depicts the trial, and is one of four Socratic dialogues, along with Euthyphro, Phaedo, and Crito, through which Plato details the final days of the philosopher Socrates. There are debates among scholars as to whether we should rely on the Apology for information about the trial itself.[3][4]

  1. ^ Plato; Estienne, Henri; Serres, Jean de; Adams, John; Adams, John Quincy (1578). "Platonis opera quae extant omnia". archive.org. [Genevae?] : Excudebat Henr. Stephanus. p. 17.
  2. ^ "Socrates," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 16 Sept. 2005. See: Doug Lindner, "The Trial of Socrates, "Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City Law School 2002.
  3. ^ See Morrison 2000. Donald Morrison. 2000. "On the Alleged Historical Reliability of Plato’s Apology," Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 82 (3): 235-265.[1]
  4. ^ Kahn 1996: 97 says the Apology is "the most reliable guide of all our testimonies concerning Socrates." Khan, Charles. 1996. Plato and the Socratic Dialogue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.