Reasons for Socrates to Resist the Death Penalty:
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Introduction:
Socrates was a well renowned Athenian philosopher many years before his trial. He is actually considered a great founder in western philosophy. He was a very distinctive and typical individual with extraordinary teachings. It is believed that his teachings were very different from those of other philosophers in Greece since his ideas differed with the rightful societal beliefs. This resulted to hatred from the people. According to him, a useless life is one that is not examined. He put a lot of emphasis on the obedience of the state likening it to the obedience a son would have for his father. He was common for taking children through lectures of coming up with arguments to justify the reason for beating his father. Socrates was later accused of corrupting youth groups and godlessness. He was then convicted to death by taking poison which he obeyed as a way of following his teaching on obedience to the law.
If Confucius would have believed in a life after death, he would probably have agreed with Socrates to have the law obeyed and kill himself. Socrates, in his day of execution explains that soul is the main form of an individual. Soul does not die and is eternal and does not change. Just the same way it brings life, so must it not die despite the death of the body. Soul is therefore termed as immortal. He feels that dying does not destroy who he really is since in real sense, he will not be dead. Confucius, in his discussion with his disciples clearly does not exhibit any knowledge on this after-life and chooses to ignore it by saying that a man can just have knowledge about the dead after he has had absolute knowledge and understanding about the living. “Until a man knows about the living, how he can know the dead?” (Waley 2010, pg 32) this clearly shows that Confucius has his own doubts about the life after death. And therefore Socrates would not have accepted to die.
There is no existence of a soul in the body of a human being, and if it really exists, then it dies with the body. Despite Socrates argument that soul comes before the body, and even when the body dies and eventually decays, the soul remains so much alive and he claims that soul, being immortal and invisible, is so different from the visible mortal body, Confucius only believes in the existence of an absolute spirit world that should be appeased to stop it from getting even with the living and does not actually believe in the existence of a soul and conscience in the after-life. “……but the spirits should be accorded an attention sufficient to ‘keep them a distance’….” it therefore is useless for one to accept death with the belief that there is a better life after.
Acceptance of death is a complete disrespect to life itself. Although Socrates argues that due to the fact that there is existence of an imperishable undying soul, and that his physical death would lead him to a different world of real and true philosophers, and that he would end up in a company of better men than the ones he will be leaving behind, Confucius does not see a possibility of an individual living again after their physical death. He completely believes that the most important phase is that of the living other than that of the dead. That is why he insists that justice be done in respecting the rights of humans other than caring too much about the spirit world. “…..how can there be proper service of spirits until living men have been properly served?” (pg 32).
Life after death, if it really exists is no important than the life of the living and should not be accorded so much anxiety. Much as Socrates views life in the form of a soul being much better since he gets to interact with much better people and philosophers who left the world of the living earlier, Confucius is quick to note that that after-life phase is not of much importance. “…..questions about the existence lead by the dead are of secondary importance to those connected with the handling of the living men…” (pg 32). This clearly shows Confucian’s indifference towards the afterlife. He therefore finds no reason for Socrates step in taking his precious life.
There is no real peace in the after world. Actually, the after world is one filled with spirits who constantly need to be appeased. These spirits have the ultimate power to destroy mankind if not carefully taken care of. Wiley, in his attempt to interpret the text, claims that Confucius did not really have a positive attitude towards the super natural world. His attitude was always either agonistic or even to a greater extent, skeptical. “….his attitude towards the spirit world was, if not skeptical, at least agonistic…” (pg 32). This simply means that he did not actually read in the same script as Socrates who had a very strong positive attitude in the after world, and therefore would not find a good reason why a good man like Socrates would allow the state to take away his life instead of running away or insisting on going in exile.
In the bid to please the spirits, justice must be put at heart. According to Confucius, it is so wrong for the ruling and the governing body to put the interests of the spirits at heart and neglect the rights of the common man. The interests of the citizens should always be kept at heart then those of the spirits which should be properly appeased to stop them from getting even. As of Socrates however, having been convicted and killed for ungodliness, it was so unacceptable. “..The claims of people should come first; but that the spirits should be accorded an attention sufficient to keep them ‘at a distance’ ….” (pg 31-32). It was not proper for Socrates to have died prematurely and unjustly in the bid to please the spirits. “How can there be any proper service of spirits if the living men have been properly served?” (pg 32). Confucius suggests that within a governing body, the subjects must be loyal to the governor, though the governor must be keen to respect them and be fair in their ruling. In Socrates case however, the ruling was unjust since the crimes committed did not warrant a death penalty. Therefore, Socrates had all the reasons to escape or accept exile as a way of punishment.
Confucius insists on the application of ‘Golden Rule’, taught by Jesus, as a principle practice in the society. People should do to others exactly what they would want done to them. Basing on this argument, it was therefore mandatory that the executioners of Socrates put themselves in his shoes. If they felt that whatever judgment they passed across was unjust, (and it really was) they shouldn’t have done it thus Socrates was supposed to have resisted it. He goes ahead to explain his belief in a government that does good to its subjects. When truth and justice prevails then everybody is entitled to do good. But when there utter injustice, then there is no reason to obey the law anymore. “....The way in which everything is done, the way in which, for example a kingdom is ruled; a method, a principle, a doctrine. It usually has a good meaning.” (pg 30). Socrates therefore should have by all means resisted the attempt to be killed and run away.
The duty of man to the other is to protect them and not to destroy them. The community within which Socrates lived was so engulfed with anger due to the negative teaching of Socrates not realizing the fact that he had his beliefs. According to Wiley, Confucius keenly insists on talking about the duty of one man to the other keenly insisting that everyone should be kind enough to treat their neighbor in a humanistic manner and to appreciate each other’s beliefs. “…. It has been rightly emphasized that he was concerned above all with duties of man to man that he ‘did not talk about spirits’….”. (pg 31) From this point, it is clearly seen that he completely disagrees with the manner in which Socrates was judged. Much as he had committed a crime, he had the right to bail himself out and did not deserve the punishment. Socrates therefore was not supposed to have accepted to take the poison but instead he was supposed to have resisted.
Freedom to express belief must always be granted to individuals without question. Much as Socrates was very busy spoiling the children’s minds by making them to question and doubt their fathers intelligence and wisdom, he was just trying the best he could to make them appreciate his beliefs. Most of the individuals in the community were angered not knowing that he did not force the children to believe him. He always left it upon them to choose what to believe in. Even though he instilled poor morals and rebellion, he did not really have the intention to do so. Therefore the judgment passed was not just. Confucius ultimately explains that it is thought wise to seek guidance from the source other than basing on the past practices since they may have been old outdated and faded. “….. The ‘good people’ here intended evidently sought guidance from some source other than the example of the ancients….” (pg 30). It therefore follows that Socrates had every right to resist the judgment and flee the land for the good of his life. The jury on the other hand was supposed to have respected his beliefs and tried to analyze the gravity of the matter other than being controlled by emotions of anger and convicting him unjustly.
There is no reason whatsoever as to why Socrates had to be rude to the jury during the trial. Even with his strict and enormous beliefs in life after death, he should have embraced an apologetic attitude bearing in mind that being good sometimes lasts a lifetime other than embracing knowledge which leads to an early death. “…Knowledge is active and frets itself away; Goodness is passive and therefore eternal as the hills.” (pg 29). Wiley interprets that Confucius explains the beauty of goodness and the slow fade of knowledge. Socrates therefore should not have embraced the mentality that he was going to die. That way he would have survived the jury’s verdict. Having opted to obey the law other than to escape by being apologetic was a very wrong step taken by Socrates.
Conclusion:
On an individual view, Socrates was so wrong in choosing to take poison to end his life other than opting for other alternatives like escape or even exile or indefinite detention. By killing Socrates, Athenians lost a great philosopher. He has been considered one of the great founders of civilization to the ancient Greece. Even though he was considered a great bother to the people of his community and a destruction of the youth’s minds, he was a source of empowerment to the community. His teachings, according to his student Pluto, were great. He never forced his students to believe what he taught but instead left them to make their own choice about life. There was therefore no reason to convict him to death. The only crime however was the manner in which he addressed the jury. He was very rude and this led to his sentence.

References:
Chambers, W. (1971). Socrates. Cambridge University Press.
Plato, G. (1928). Phaedo. Forgotten Books.
Waley, A. (1989).the analects of Confucius. Vintage; first edition.