On Thursday, Mr. Devecka, our guest speaker from Yale, spoke to us about how a court is like a theatre in that it is like a play. The defendant becomes like an actor and recites lines he memorizes beforehand. The "scriptwriters" were called logographoi or sophists. Whether you won or lost the case depended on how entertained the jury was. However, Socrates refused to get a logographus and went out there improvising everything he said. Do you agree with Socrates' method of handling the situation? Why do you think Socrates refused to take the easy way out? Take specific examples from the text and explain them.
Remember to put your name and to use correct grammar!
5 comments:
Socrates apparetnly only seeks truth and only the truth in every matter. If ithis statement is true, it is not an option for him to "play" a role in court. He improvised because he wanted to shed light on his actions and why they should not be punished for through logic and reason. However, the jury is simply used to the idea of groveling, tragic drama and even the use of family members as props to entertain. When their expectations were not satisfied, Socrates failed as an actor and therfore failed to prove himself innocent. If the court is the theater, Socrates can be portayed as the faling tragedy queen, because he believes in standing by his morals, whether they seem right to all or none.
Socrates adhered to telling facts and finding truth. While I commend his method of truth telling to the jury, it is not what I think Socrates should have done to keep himself from being found guilty. Socrates would rather not appeal to the jury by playing a role and entertaining them. He, instead, gave facts and reason as his method of defense. He may have indeed proven himself innocent this way, but not in the way that the jury wanted to. The courts of Athens were more focused on how the accused defend themselves rather than what they use. His trial was the play and Socrates didn't "play his part"
I totally agree with Socrates method of handling the situation because he did/handled the situation the honest way and doing it the honest way or the way of saying what ever comes to mind is how he could say the truth. Philosopher are about truth/ answers no? So, if Socrates had taken the easy way out by lying to avoid punishment, he would not be considered a philosopher and since Socrates would rather die than give up true philosophy, he stuck with his philosophical hut.
I agree with socrates method of defending himself. Rather than play along with the jury of how he was to be acquitted, socrates accepted his fate, but decided to teach the jury one final lesson. No speech writer would agree with his methods of defending, and as such he had to be his own sophist to ensure his words were the ones he spoke at court.
Malcolm M.
as a brief follow-up: "Now I want to prophesy to those who convicted me, for I am at the point when men prophesy most, when they are about to die. I say, gentlemen, to those who voted to kill me, that vengeance will come upon you immediately after my death, a vengeance much harder to bear that that which you took in killing me. You did this in the belief that you would avoid giving an account of your life, but I maintain that quite the opposite will happen to you. There will be more people to test you, whom I now held back, but you will not notice it." (39c-d)
Here Socrates is saying that the people who he had questioned throughout his philosophical career would come back to pester and hinder those in the jury who had voted for socrates' demise. Had Socrates told these words to any sophist, they might have warped and changed the words to reflect something they felt rather than Socrates' words.
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