PHIL 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Pythia, Meletus, Anytus
Document Summary
Apology here means defence, not admission of culpability and regret; the text is a record of what socrates said at his trial in 399 bce. We only have plato"s word for it, but there is reason to believe that it is a roughly accurate report. The work consists of three speeches: the first and longest is his defence speech proper; it runs from stephanus 17a to 35d. The second, from 35e to 38b, is his sentencing speech, in which he proposes what his sentence should be, given that the previous speech had been unsuccessful and he had been convicted. The final speech, from38c to 42a, is his last address to the jury, given that he has been sentenced to death. From 29a to 29b and from 40c to 41c socrates presents two different arguments for the conclusion that death is not to be feared as a great evil.
