PHIL 1000 Lecture Notes - Sophist
Document Summary
Socrates asks very many questions, without giving him the final answer. This way, plato has socrates present his theory of knowledge: If no one taught the boy geometry, then he must have known geometry already: the ideas existed; socrates just helps to give birth to them, plato believed this was possible owing to the immortality of the soul. He also asked questions about truth, beauty and justice. In the course of doing so, he upset a lot of important people. He was eventually accused of corrupting the youth, and of promoting atheism. He was brought to trial for these charges. Plato gives an account of this trial in the. Apology, where he was judged by 501 of his fellow athenians. Here, apology means defense. socrates was not apologizing for his behaviour he believed what he was doing was right. He never took money for his teachings, like the sophists did.
