Thursday, January 5, 2012

A Note on Socrates

The first piece is a pair of writings have to do with the trial of Socrates. 'The Apology' is the defense that Socrates puts forth at court and 'Crito' is a dialouge that takes place as he is waiting for sentence to be carried out. There is a third piece, 'Phaedo', which concerns Socrates last day. It doesn't pop up in this list until January of year five. If you want to read it now for a more full understanding and keep some notes for future use, be my guest.

Meanwhile, I'm having a devil of a time understanding Socrates motivations. Not that he doesn't put them out there in plain text, it's just that . . . well, they're hard to believe. Maybe I'm just having trouble getting my modern brain around his ethical judgments.
All of which means that I'm really looking forward to the discussion time!

2 comments:

  1. Be more specific about what you find hard to believe. Which ethical judgments are difficult for you, which motives? AS for having a devil of a time understanding Plato's Socrates...I've found him a wily devil for many years now...Hegel, speaking of understanding the later dialogues ("Apology" and "Crito" are probably early) said Dante's inscription on the Gates of Hell should be on Plato's words: "Abandon all hope of understanding, ye who enter here..."

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  2. I'll go more into my confusion with Socrates in a few days. Love that Hegel quote!

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