The Case of Socrates
The great mind has always attracted controversy, may it be the past or the present. Socrates was no exception in this regard and had more than his fair share of conflicts with the ones whose beliefs and ideas he had dared to challenge, even though the challenge was on intellectual basis. If one raises the questions, “Why invite trouble Socrates? Why irritate the masses?” Socrates would simply reply that an unexamined life is not worth living for. In this regard Socrates considered himself to be a pest, a gadfly to be more precise, for he knew that his arguments serve to be a source of annoyance for the ones who feel that their ideas and beliefs are threatened by him. Socrates questioned, scrutinized and analyzed all from government to religion, from morality to reality because one thing was clear to Socrates that the wisdom he possess is actually, knowing the extent of his own ignorance.
The fate of a revolutionary thinker is always riddled with opposition and Socrates paid a high price for that, for he was sentences to death by the ones who felt he threatened their ways of living. The account of his trial is given in the Apology by Plato.
Socrates was mainly the target of three accusations by Meletus.
The first accusation directed at Socrates was that he always makes the worse argument look stronger. Socrates very firmly denied the allegation and his response was that he had never engaged in topics which interest the natural philosopher.
Quite rightly so, in fact Socrates never bothered with teaching others for a fee and his poverty is a sign of his sincerity. Socrates never said he was a sophist for he never claimed to have the knowledge Sophists have.
Socrates then faced a second allegation that he is corrupting the youth by misguiding them and making them question their traditional patterns of belief and character. In response to this charge Socrates started off by building a defense based on...