How Did Socrates Corrupt Youth

If I had been on the jury in the trial of Socrates I would have voted in favor of his acquittal because he was not corrupting the youth nor was he impious. In my opinion, Socrates did not commit any crime by instructing knowledge to the youth. Meletus had no solid evidence when trying to prove that Socrates was corrupting the youth or that he was impious. If the youth had performed illicit acts against the law due to Socrates teachings then it would have been enough evidence to have found him guilty for corrupting the youth.

Socrates, a poor 70 year-old man, has been accused of corrupting the youth, not believing in the gods of the city, and for paying a fee for his teachings. His main accuser was Meletus, but both Anytus and Lycon supported Meletus’ accusations. Socrates fought against the three accusations in a dignified manner. First he discussed that he was not corrupting the youth on purpose, but if they were become corrupted by him on accident that he will stop. Additionally, he mentions that he is not asking for money for his teachings and that the youth have only become interested in his actions and have decided to follow him. He states that he only has the desire to find someone who is wiser than him because he does not believe what an oracle from Delphi

Finally, there was a saying, “Our youth is our future,” yet Athens arrogantly ignored this theory by charging Socrates a case that we would have thought of today as a superficial reason to be executed. If Socrates was living today, he was entitled to his own opinion without being executed. Perhaps, under Socratic method, the leaders all over the world, would have recognized their own ignorance and gain intellectual virtues for the betterment of the

Unfortunately, Socrates was accused of impiety and corruption of the youth. Consequently, the courts believed that Socrates was most likely disbelieving their traditional gods and forcing the youth to do the same thing, which is why he was facing the corruption of youth charge. Many people did not like his constant questioning and eventually even the people closest to him turned their backs on him. In the end, Socrates was found guilty of all charges and was facing death by having to drink poison. Socrates could have asked for an alternate sentence, but his principles would not allow it.

Socrates did not corrupt the youth; they were yearning for this knowledge of truth that Socrates so freely contemplated and shared with them. Socrates acknowledged that those within the community concealed the truth. Those who became angry with the youth’s newfound awareness would accuse Socrates of corrupting them, however, when asked by what evidence, they were ignorant and instead resulted to slandering him. “For I do not suppose they would be willing to speak the truth, that it becomes quite clear that they pretend to know,

Socrates is accused of corrupting the young with his disbelief in the Gods his city believed in. “Socrates does criminal wrong by not recognizing the gods that the city recognizes, and furthermore by introducing new divinities; and he also does criminal wrong by corrupting the youth” (Apology 11-12, Plato, Apology 24b). Socrates’ way of thinking was; considering whether or not a person acts wrongly or rightly, it is to be considered if the life is worth living or not. As the trial went on Socrates refused to change his way of thinking making the jurors even more upset. Since this was in Classical Greece, the time period of war and conflict (Greeks v. Persians and Athenians v. Spartans) this seemed to have put Socrates at odds with his fellow

In his final stage in the development as a philosopher, Socrates' platonic dialogue reaches a crescendo in dramatic form in his defense of his philosophical teachings surrounding the accusation of “corrupting the young,” (Apology 7). With that said, one must ask themselves, to what affect did Socrates' Socratic teachings have on the youth, and whether it was voluntary or involuntary is of no consequence, corruption is still corruption. Then should he not be held in contempt? As Socrates charges at Meletus with condescension when questioning him in regards to “who makes them better,” (Apology 7). Socrates then becomes Meletus mouthpiece as Meletus is too slow to react, and arrogantly and openly mocks him in stating, “Do you see, Meletus,

The easiest way to do this was to start with the youth. The youth’s minds had the ability to be easily molded and they are more eager and anxious to learn and obtain knowledge. Socrates was accused of spreading “prohibited knowledge” to these youths. If Socrates did not offer his knowledge to the youth about the evils of the world, who else would? Socrates did not obtain any pension or reward from teaching these children.

Socrates states, “…realize that if I make one of my companions vicious, I risk incurring harm at his hands. And am I, therefore, as you allege doing so much damage intentionally? Either I am not corrupting them—or if I am, I am doing so unintentionally; so either way your charge is false. But if I am corrupting them unintentionally, the law does not require me to be brought to court for such mistakes” (26a). Socrates asserts that he does not cause corruption because causing others to be corrupt would in turn cause him to be corrupt.

Socrates was a religious person.

Socrates' relationship with the past administration made him a focus of oppression, regardless of the legitimacy of the asserted charges. He was blamed for undermining religious and state power and for likewise corrupting the brains of Athenians. At the same time actually, Socrates made no conscious endeavors to cut down the religious and state powers. Rather, he urged his followers to conform to an analytical way of moral activities, additionally recommending that the Athenian rulers themselves are not absolved from such review.

Socrates was charged with impiety he does not believe in the gods whom the people believes in he is portrayed as an atheist and he speculates about the heaven and thing beneath the ground, he seeks natural explanation for astronomical and geological phenomena rather than the gods and also he corrupts the youth he infuses in them a spirit of criticism his questioning of authority had effects on the youth. He makes the weaker reason seem to be stronger.

Socrates was a man who spent most of his time talking to people. He would ask them hypothetical questions, and make them think for themselves about the true answer they believed in, by serving as a guide for the conversation. Many people, including the accusers, believed that while Socrates did this, he was serving as a Sophist. A Sophist is a person who talks to people, and teaches them how to argue a point, whether the point is right or wrong. A Sophist would collect money for this lesson, and go on with their teachings (Xenophon 42). This accusation is inaccurate because Socrates did not collect any money for his conversations with people. Instead, Socrates was a very poor man, who happened to have rich friends. Talking to these people was a way for Socrates to try to spread his way of life to the Athenian's. He enjoyed conversing with people about ethical issues, and moral beliefs. In his argument, Socrates refutes Meletus' charge that he corrupts the young. One crucial point deals with the idea of Socrates as a paid teacher. This would imply that Socrates was actively seeking students and teaching "corrupting" ideas. This plays a part in the argument, by Meletus, that Socrates has deliberately corrupted the youth. Socrates says that, "the young men who follow me around of their own free will, those who have most leisure, the sons

The second example that Socrates makes is that people that don’t care about the youth are the ones who are really corrupting them. “It is quite clear that by now, gentlemen, that Meletus, as I said before, has never paid the slightest attention to this subjects. However I invite you to tell us, Meletus, in what sense you make out that I corrupt the minds of the young.” 3 The premises of this quote are:

On the first charge that Meletus brought against Socrates that he, ‘corrupted the youth’, this charge could have been seen as true by many. Socrates was teaching his followers to think for themselves. The government and people may have seen this as a threat. They believed that the youth may the try to break away from the norms that were set up, which would have lead to havoc.