...The first argumentative strategy dialogic can be defined by a conversation between people. Most of the time when someone uses the dialogic strategy, it consists of two characters. In stories, dialogic often have two characters that have a dialogue conversation. Usually, one of characters says more things than the other with two different points of views. In “Apology of Socrates”, Socrates tries to plead for his innocence and talks to Meletus. The majority of the time, Socrates tried to persuade his audience into believing what he was doing was right. There was a few times where Meletus spoke to answer a few of Socrates’ questions. Confessional is the second argumentative strategy in which someone opens up to their intentions. Confessional can be used when someone reveals their motivation for doing something. It can also be used to talk about a purpose for an action someone took. David Henry Thoreau wrote “Why I Went to the woods” to explain why he did not want to live the city. He tries to convince his readers that living life means to not live in city but to live in the wilderness. He explains his reasons why he believed that living in city was not living. Didactic can be defined as a lecture. The argumentative strategy is meant to teach an audience new lessons and new things. When teachers and professors teach their classes, they lecture and use a didactic approach to teach their students. In “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell attempts to teach his readers...
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...Gorgias was to many the father of Sophism; he originated from Leontini in Sicily but is best known for the speeches he gave in Greece. Gorgias made the journey to Athens as an ambassador for the people of Leontini who were in danger of attack from the much more sizable army of Syracuse. This of course would be devastating blow for his people which gave Gorgias urgency on his mission to retrieve aid from the Greeks. Once the Athenians heard this extraordinarily talented orator weave and rhyme his words to paint a picture in a way they had never witnessed before they were shocked and awed by this new form of speech craft. Gorgias was successful on his mission to convince the Athenians to create an alliance; a mission he was more than suited for. He has been quoted saying,” I can convince anyone of anything!” this claim has become the goal of many who share his craft: the craft of Rhetoric. Rhetoric sculpted Gorgias’ view on life (the view that would birth the sophist) that through deliberation and deconstruction of both sides of an argument one could extract the truth and once found that truth may not be absolute; that truth should be driven by logic and not morals. This ideology of fluctuating truth was not well received by the Greek Philosophers who believed in an absolute truth. The most famous of these Greeks being Plato who constructed the play focusing on Gorgias and utilizing his name as a title. Plato believed that rhetoric caused chaos and injustice if not driven by a quest...
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...Heath Thomas Kinkead English 1301-394 12 September 2017 Plato tells a story about a “wise” man being accused of corrupting the youth in Athens. In “The Apology,” Socrates defends himself in front of the jury while he attempts to embarrass Meletus and lessen his credibility as the prosecutor. Socrates then talks about how Athens would lose more than they would gain by exiling him, and he finishes by saying that he does not fear death for only the gods know what happens after death. Socrates uses apologia, a method of defense, to embarrass Meletus. He wants to prove to the jury that Meletus really has no affiliation with the youth of Athens, so there is no way for him to know if the youth are corrupted or not. It appears that Meletus just...
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...Socrates, a famous Greek Philosopher, was formally charged at the Athenian courts for his philosophical teachings and its effect on the people of Athens. He was presented in front of hundreds of jury men and unsupportive audience to defend himself against charges that were set by Meletus, one of his prosecutors. Normally a person would plead with the jury to free himself from receiving harsh punishments, but Socrates was not among them. Despite of knowing the fact that the result of the trail would be death, Socrates presented a powerful speech and tactfully cross examined Meletus to prove to the audience and the jury that Meletus accused Socrates of an issue (the corruption of the youth) that Meletus himself was ignorant about. As Socrates says “But in fact Meletus, you have sufficiently displayed that you never yet gave any thought to the young. And you making your own lack of care plainly apparent, since you have cared nothing about the things for which you bring me here” (West, 25 c). First of all, Meletus accuses Socrates of corrupting the minds of the youth. When Socrates questioned to Meletus who is it that has a good influence on youth, Meletus replied the laws. Socrates then asked him to be more specific in terms of people, and Meletus said it were the jurymen. In response to Socrates persistent questions, Meletus mistakenly makes an absurd overstatement that the entire population of Athens has a positive influence on youth except for Socrates. Socrates...
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...Ke Zhan 詹可 Philosophy 120 J. Gentzler Summer 2016/5/31 Arguments of The impiety of Socrates In the “Apology” written by Plato, Socrates is charged of impiety that he teaches students not to believe in the gods in whom the city believes but in other new spiritual things (Plato, Apology,25b). Socrates argues that he is not guilty of impiety and he believes in the god. Perhaps the strongest argument that Socrates gives for this claim relies on the claim that the new spiritual things he believes are also belong to the extent of god. In this paper, I will argue that this argument fails because Socrates doesn’t have enough powerful evidences to prove that the thoughts he believes are the parts of scope that Athenian believes. In “Apology”, Melutus charges that Socrates teaches his students to believe new spirituals things. Facing to Meletus’s charges, Socrates defends himself from different aspects. Firstly, Socrates raises doubts about the Meletus’s real meaning of the charge. He corrects the accusation should be he doesn’t believe in gods at all. Let’s see how he gets the conclusion. From Melutus deposition, Socrates is charged of teaching his students to believe different spiritual thinking which didn’t admitted in Authens. Socrates argues that he doesn’t understand Meletus original thoughts. Because Meletus said that the sun is stone, and the moon earth, Sacrates indicates Meletus is antitheist. What’s more, according to Socrates’s sayings, because Meletus doesn’t believe in gods...
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...NO THANKSGET THE APP Apology rough draft Kwong 2 Emily Kwong Mrs. McGinity Honors English Period 3 6 September 2016 Socrates Against the World Socrates’ words during his trial were called the “Apology” which was put to paper by his student, Plato. In his discussion with the majority of the Athenian men, Socrates faces unjust judgement for speaking up for his different beliefs. Unintentionally attacking the natural philosophy, Socrates is put to trial for declaring his mind’s thoughts. Knowing that “God only is wise” (75), fuels the hatred of those who “thought himself wise, but was not really wise” (57). Socrates enlightens others that “wisdom is in truth worth nothing” (78) for the only one that has the wisdom to be...
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...In 399 BC, a philosopher, named Socrates, is put to trial for multiple reasons. He was accused of corrupting the youth and impiety. They wanted the death penalty, but the importance of this trial were the arguments made by Socrates. One of the arguments made in The Apology that will be focused on is the corruption argument. Socrates made many arguments such as the horse trainer argument, the God argument, and also the death argument, but the argument that was most interesting was the corruption argument. The corruption argument, made by Socrates, is what set the tone and what allowed the rest of his arguments to have a place in his defense. In The Apology, by Plato, he talked about the defense that Socrates had in his trial against the...
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...I believe the argument that Socrates made: “Wicked people have a bad effect upon those with whom they are in the closest contact” is valid, because you can become like someone who you are really close to, for example if you hang out a lot with your best friend, it is more likely that you became intentionally influenced by him/her, this might be in a good or bad way it varies and depends in the person. So if you are surrounded by wicked people you probably might end up being just like them but this is not always the case, some people have a very strong mind and personality that they stick with their personality no matter what. The way I would apply this argument is by surrounding myself with people who bring the best of me and with people who encourage me to become a better person. And little by little staying away from wicked people who can affect me in the future. Even though we are in times that it is difficult to find people with good intentions we have to be very careful and choose the right people, so we won’t end up quitting our personality just for them or because of them. In another hand, I personally believe that Socrates did not intended to have a bad influence on his close companions, he actually was trying to prove a point by saying the truth. (“All I know is that I know nothing”), but most people did not like to hear what he had to say, people didn’t like to hear the fact that they were wrong and that they didn’t knew anything. That’s is why most people...
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...Plato’s Apology, is by far one of the most logical yet critical thinking text that I have ever read. Plato describes Socrates, the accused atheist and corrupter of youth in ancient Athens, as a true beacon of ethics and morality. The method that Plato uses to depict Socrates on trial gives us a look back on how the trial of a man who encourages one of sound mind to ask questions even to those who are deemed wise in the eyes of others. Despite facing odds that are stacked highly against him, and this being his first time in court “For I am more than seventy years of age, and this is the first time that I have ever appeared in a court of law, and I am quite a stranger to the ways of the place; and therefore I would have you regard me as if I were really a stranger”(Plato). Socrates is able to achieve what he feels is the most imperative knowledge of morality for all present in the court to understand. When we, the readers, are first presented to Socrates we find him near the end of his trial where he is allowed to speak to the court. The sure genius of Socrates is revealed to us in his first words of dialogue. Using his brilliance of moral logic and ethical thinking he warns those present in the court of the mendacity of the accusations, “How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the speeches of my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was - such was the effect of them; and yet they have hardly spoken a word of truth.”(Plato)...
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...Socrates was a great philosopher of the Greek world. He was quite an atypical and distinctive person. Being different from all the other philosophers of the land, Socrates was teaching his students ideas totally out of the ordinary from what the society believed was right. As a result, he displeased many people so much that they decided to get rid of him. Socrates was put to trial, accused of spoiling the youth of Athens, tried and sentenced to death. His personal defense is described in works two of his students: Xenophon and Plato. Both of them wrote papers called Apology, which is the Greek word for “defense”. In this essay I used Apology by Plato as the main resource, since it contents a more full account of the trial of Socrates and his words. Despite the fact that the philosopher attempted to defend himself and explain the reasons for saying and doing the things he did, it did not do any good for his justification. On the contrary, Socrates’ words seemed to make the jury harden their hearts and condemn him. The charges brought against the philosopher had nothing to do with true crime like we understand it today. He did not commit any physical or financial harm to anybody. Socrates insulted and angered many people more than any “legitimate” offense ever could. He said too many things that people around him did not like and could not forgive. One of the charges brought against him was corrupting the youth of Athens. Accordingly to the words of those who complained at...
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...Socrates was a Greek philosopher who is known to be one of the greatest founders of western philosophy. Socrates practiced philosophy by preaching in his local market place which caused the citizens of Athens and the authority to become angry towards his views and ways of spreading his philosophical thoughts. Socrates used both analytical and constructive ways to discover the general principles in philosophy. The Oracle of Delphi strongly believed that Socrates was the wisest man in all of Athens which caused Socrates to attempt to prove him wrong. Socrates tried to prove the Oracle wrong by making up his own method to finding the general principles of philosophy, which is called “the socratic method”. The socratic method is the process of how Socrates would question others while he pretends he doesn't know any knowledge on the topic when in reality he does. Not only did the preachings in the market place cause authority to disagree with him but, the socratic method also hindered the authority to threaten him to be sentenced to death. This is where the famous quote from Socrates comes along, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Authority demanded him to be sentenced to death or to stop questioning others and having philosophical thoughts. This is when Socrates was put to death because he believed his life was not worth living without philosophic activity. When we look back and study Socrates it becomes difficult for us to find the truth of the events that has happened during...
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...PL 109 Study Guide Plato’s Apology, pp. 1-5 1. When Socrates is on trial he initiates his defense by comparing his manner of speaking to that of his prosecutors. He discusses his force of eloquence because his accusers use this topic to say that you should not be mislead by this. Socrates goes on to agree with them by saying he does speak with the force of eloquence but only if that is a force of truth. He compares the eloquence mainly by agreeing with the prosecutors, but getting more specific with that of what he speaks and saying that he speaks only the truth in an elegant and persuasive manner. He also goes on to compare the words spoken and informs everyone that the accusers have only spoken false things about him, and everything that they will hear from his mouth will be nothing but the truth. Socrates mainly compares the eloquence to prove his point that these people accusing him are liars and that everyone should open their minds up a it believe him because he speaks truthfully. He asks his jury to...
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...Socrates was put on trial for two things. One he was corrupting the mind of the youth and two he was impious. Socrates had many interesting arguments against these claims. Socrates got Meletus to say that everyone improves the youth, all the citizens of Athens. Socrates disproves this claim by saying that, it takes a particular person to improve something else. Socrates uses and example with horses, saying that horse trainers are very specialized people and have a positive influence on horse, where any other average person would have a negative influence. So Socrates concludes that, he is not that 1 person who is corrupting the minds of the youth compared to the hundreds of citizens of Athens, but it is the citizens who are not improving their...
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...After reading Plato’s Apology there are many questions that filled my head. Whether it was what Socrates meant when explaining his defense, or what the Athenian court members had based their moral and ethical views from. More importantly, Socrates was a philosopher, and he strived to find answers, even when they were not easy to discover. This led me to Socrates’ idea, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates was a strong advocate of this statement and supported it in front of the Oracle of Delphi and in the Athenian court. I was very interested with Socrates statement, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” When I first discovered this statement the first thought that popped in my head was how serious Socrates was. There was...
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...Socrates was a great philosopher of the Greek world. He was quite an atypical and distinctive person. Being different from all the other philosophers of the land, Socrates was teaching his students ideas totally out of the ordinary from what the society believed was right. As a result, he displeased many people so much that they decided to get rid of him. Socrates was put to trial, accused of spoiling the youth of Athens, tried and sentenced to death. His personal defense is described in works two of his students: Xenophon and Plato. Both of them wrote papers called Apology, which is the Greek word for “defense”. In this essay I used Apology by Plato as the main resource, since it contents a more full account of the trial of Socrates and his words. Despite the fact that the philosopher attempted to defend himself and explain the reasons for saying and doing the things he did, it did not do any good for his justification. On the contrary, Socrates’ words seemed to make the jury harden their hearts and condemn him. The charges brought against the philosopher had nothing to do with true crime like we understand it today. He did not commit any physical or financial harm to anybody. Socrates insulted and angered many people more than any “legitimate” offense ever could. He said too many things that people around him did not like and could not forgive. One of the charges brought against him was corrupting the youth of Athens. Accordingly to the words of those who complained at...
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